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ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


BY THE SAME AUTHOR 


JIMMY’S WIFE 

THE FOOLISHNESS 
OF LILIAN 

SUNSHINE IN 

UNDERWOOD 

THE RAMSHACKLE 
ADVENTURE 



ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

BY 

JESSIE CHAMPION 


LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD 
NEW YORK : JOHN LANE COMPANY. MCMXXI 



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Printed at The Devonshire Press, Torquay, England 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


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ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


CHAPTER I 

T HOROUGH-BRED!” exclaimed Jim 
Parsons, who was fond of horses, as he 
watched Ella Danesford thread her 
way amongst the lathes with the careless ease of 
one long accustomed to machinery. 

Good as any man,” added George Ramsey, 
nodding his head several times to give emphasis 
to the astounding compliment. 

A damn sight better’n any man I ever knowed,” 
affirmed Spud Clarke, scowling fiercely at his 
companions. 

‘‘ Come now. Spud,” pleaded young Billy Fearn, 
‘‘ that’s laying it on a bit thick.” 

Is it, by ” Spud began, with a rasp in his 

voice like one of his own files. Then he remembered. 

You’ve been through the war,” he continued 
in a gentler tone, addressing Billy, from start to 
finish, or as near as no matter. You’ve seen some 
queer things over there. But we’ve worked in 
this dashed factory beside that girl all the time, 
and we know the stuff she’s made on. You ’ad the 
excitement of the fightin’ to keep you up, Billy, 
I 


^ ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

and you always was fond of a fight ; but that 
there gel kept us up. There ain’t no ’arm now 
in sayin’ we needed it too.” 

‘‘ Not a bit, Spud,” Billy agreed. 

More’n that,” Spud continued as Ella, after 
a last glance round the workshop, disappeared 
through the door, ‘‘ when my missus and three 
of the kids were down with the flu last November, 
an’ not a soul would come near ’em for fear of 
catchin’ it, she was the one as came in and pulled 
them through. Sat up nights in my ’ouse, she did, 
when everybody else was peace-rejoicin’, and never 
missed a quarter ’ere.” 

Good for ’er ! ” said Billy with genuine en- 
thusiasm. 

“ And that ain’t all,” Spud resumed after a 
momentary pause. ‘‘ Not by a long chalk. You’d 
’ardly believe it, but she made my supper for me 
every night for a week and set it out on a white 
cloth with knives and forks and things like a 

bl like a waiter. Did you ever know a man 

as would do that ? ” 

‘‘ Never,” replied Billy with a twinkle in his 
eye. 

Nor me neither. That’s why I say she’s 
better’n any man I ever knowed. Tell you wot 
it is, that there gel knows as we ain’t ruddy 
machines. She knows we’re men with ’omes and 
wives and kiddies to be worried about the same as 
other folk.” 

Well, boys,” said Tod Smith, putting on his 
coat, ‘‘ I guess this blamed old shop won’t be the 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 3 

same place to-morrer. She’s the last of the gels 
to go — and the best.” 

“ If the boss could ha’ kept her ” somebody 

began hesitatingly. 

Never mind that,” another interrupted. The 
boss knows ’is own business best. It’s time we 
was off.” 

Meanwhile Ella was hurrying homewards. A 
blustering March day had settled down, with low 
scurrying clouds, biting wind, and occasional 
showers of cold sleet, to a remorselessly dreary 
night. An occasional electric light in the main 
thoroughfare through which she proceeded, empha- 
sized the pervading dreariness and made utterly 
hopeless the dark side-streets down which she 
sometimes peered as she passed. Ella had often 
said that the Spirit of the Place was both dull and 
dirty ; to-night she thought that even a dull and 
dirty Spirit, not bound by material chains, would 
surely have sufficient good sense to depart from 
the place altogether. 

Thanks to sensible boots, a thick coat, and a hat 
that did not matter, Ella successfully defied the 
weather. Her youth, health and abundant good 
spirits battled bravely with the gloom. But it 
was a losing fight. As she turned into the cavern- 
ous darkness of River Street sudden tears filled 
her eyes. She hung her head, although it was 
physically impossible for anyone to see the shameful 
signs of surrender. 

Using a latch-key, Ella noiselessly entered 
number 57. She hung up her coat and hat in the 


4 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

hall, involuntarily puffed out her hair where it had 
been flattened by her hat, and opened the kitchen 
door. Her mother started and looked up after 
Ella had closed the door behind her. 

“ I didn’t hear you come in, dear,” Mrs Danes- 
ford said apologetically. 

No wonder,” Ella replied, kissing her. The 
wind is making a fearful row.” 

Yes. It’s wretched weather, and this house 
is so draughty that one can scarcely keep warm. 
Are you cold, too, dear ? You look rather queer.” 

I’m fed up. That’s all.” 

‘‘ Good gracious ! Where did you go ? And I 
have kippers for tea.” 

“ I mean, to-night’s the limit.” 

‘‘ The limit of what, darling ? I’m afraid I 
don’t understand.” 

Of course you don’t. Your vocabulary is 
behind the times because for over five years you 
have lived in a back street in Darchester and never 
spoken to a soul except myself. It has been 
beastly rotten for you, dear old mumsie.” 

‘‘ It might have been worse,” said Mrs Danes- 
ford philosophically but without any spirit. And 
I have spoken to Mrs Murphy and a few others.” 

‘‘ To none of your own class anyhow,” Ella 
asserted. 

My dear, there are no classes to-day,” Mrs 
Danesford corrected with a tired smile. 

‘‘ Aren’t there ? ” Ella asked, raising her eye- 
brows. “ There are just as many as there used 
to be. No ! There is one class more — the wealthy 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


S 

profiteer. It is quite stupid of the men at the 
works to say that the Great War has done nothing 
except raise the prices of everything. It has 
created a new class for a people who delight in 
classes.” 

“ Do you want any tea ? ” Mrs Danesford asked, 
obviously unwilling to tackle social conditions. 

Of course I do. When I remarked that I was 
fed up, I meant that my mind was clogged with 
stodgy, indigestible thoughts. My stomach, thank 
goodness, is still active and empty.” 

Although the window and the two doors, one 
leading into the hall the other into a little scullery, 
rattled abominably, and the curtains bulged fre- 
quently as the wind forced an entrance, the kitchen 
was by no means a cheerless apartment. The walls 
were distempered a light terra-cof ta colour, the floor 
was covered with well polished linoleum, a good fire 
blazed in a shining stove, and an incandescent gas 
burner threw searching light on a snowy table cloth 
and excellent china. The fish-knives, tea-spoons 
and tea-pot, were silver — the salvage of better days 
— and Ella appreciated thoroughly the few daffodils 
that not only gave a touch of colour to the tea- 
table, but suggested unutterable things to a soul 
hungry for beauty and rest. 

Ella herself, as she gently pushed her mother 
back into her cane chair and put the singing kettle 
on the fire, was good to look at. She wore a navy- 
blue dress of serviceable serge ; it was not in the 
latest fashion, but it was well cut and showed to 
advantage the graceful lines and soft curves of the 


6 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


girl’s maturing figure. Her hair was black and 
abundant, but it was also fine and fluffy and given 
to throw out fascinating tendrils in unexpected 
places. A poet could not truthfully have compared 
her mouth to a rosebud, but if he happened to be 
acquainted with a red flower of moderate size 
which gave one the impression of humour and good 
nature he might have captured a simile for what 
the youths in the factory, untroubled by poetical 
searching of mind, were content to style clink- 
ing.” Most people, however, found that Ella’s 
eyes banished from their minds all thought of 
similes for her other features. They were blue, 
occasionally the colour of a deep sea in summer, 
but frequently darkening almost to violet ; and they 
were fringed with long lashes, lighter by a mere 
trifle than her hair. Ella had a proportion of Irish 
blood in her veins, and the Irish legend of ‘‘ a bit 
of blue sky put in with smutty fingers ” held good. 

As Ella, with characteristic rapidity, completed 
the preparation of the meal, she had the strange 
and startling experience of seeing her mother as a 
stranger might see her. Hitherto Ella had alw^ays 
seen her mother as she was in the old days before 
the break-up : a well-preserved, middle-aged 
woman, with fresh complexion, hair turning a 
becoming grey ; intensely interested in her social 
life, piously given to good works, and passionately 
devoted to her husband and daughter. Now she 
saw a prematurely aged woman, with hair almost 
white and entirely lifeless, shrunken features and 
figure, pale complexion, and listless arms and 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


7 

hands. There were no signs of interest or of 
devotion, but every sign of a dull acquiescence with 
unmerited evil fortune. The gesture with which 
she drew her woollen shawl over her shrunk bosom 
revealed to Ella’s unsealed eyes the weariness and 
despondency of a woman with no fight left in her. 

Five years ago, in this same unlucky month of 
March, Ella’s father. Dr Danesford, a big happy 
man whose very presence had benefited his patients 
more than his drugs, had set out across the moors 
to assist a farm-labourer’s wife to bring another 
soul into the world. His task completed, he had 
set out cheerfully for home and warmth and rest. 
On the lonely road he had let the car out, glad that 
the mother had done her duty so nobly as to permit 
him to reach his home in time for supper and a 
pipe, or perhaps two, before Ella would scamper 
off to bed. A stray sheep in the middle of the 
road was the cause of the catastrophe. In the grey 
dawn, through thick-falling snow flakes, his bruised 
body was carried home. 

Mrs Danesford and Ella remained for a few 
months in the old home. Then they had to leave. 
The doctor had worked a large practice, but his 
bills to the strugglers outside the panel had been 
absurdly small. Sometimes, indeed, instead of 
sending a bill to a poor parson or a harassed widow, 
he sent game or poultry which he pretended he had 
killed or reared himself. With the proceeds of the 
sale of the practice and the assurance on the doctor’s 
life — he had meant to increase this every year — 
Mrs Danesford had about a year. She and 


8 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

Ella moved to Darchester and were straightway 
swamped in the multitude. 

When the war broke out Ella^ then studying 
shorthand and typewriting with a view to a clerical 
career, wished to do something useful. She could 
not afford to take up nursing, but a munition factory 
offered her both money and the opportunity to 
help on the war. For a whole week she fought 
her mother, but the issue was never really in 
doubt. Ella’s chin was much more prominent 
than her mother’s. In a few weeks her wages 
mounted to four pounds a week and, although 
they sometimes exceeded, they never fell below 
that figure. 

After tea, Ella lit the gas in the scullery, tucked 
up her sleeves, enveloped herself in a great white 
overall, and proceeded to wash up. She did not 
pretend that she liked washing up. She hated it. 
But she did it all the better for that. Things that 
we love and things that we hate are well done ; it 
is the thing to which we are indifferent that we 
scimp. Even when a final glance round revealed 
a dish or a plate that had been overlooked, Ella 
never put it aside for the next time. She merely 
muttered a gentle expletive and paid the wretched 
thing out by scrubbing it until not a speck of 
grease remained. 

The sink’s a good place to think at,” Ella re- 
marked when she had drawn her mother’s chair 
to the front of the fire where draughts were less 
strenuous and taken her own seat in the corner. 

‘‘ It is, dear. But when I begin to think the 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


9 

water gets cold. And it’s perfectly horrid to wash 
up with lukewarm water.” 

I work all the harder when I’m thinking,” said 
Ella. I expect I washed up in record time 
to-night.” 

“ You were certainly not very long.” 

I did a power of thinking.” 

“ What was it all about ? ” 

I’ll tell you in a minute. Just wait a 
second.” 

Ella was obviously excited. She proved it, not 
only by mixing her units of time, but by rushing 
upstairs to her bedroom at break-neck speed. When 
she came down again — and her flight downstairs 
caused her mother to clutch her chest convulsively 
— she had a bank pass-book in her hand. 

“ Mother I ” she exclaimed, after she had per- 
formed some arithmetical feat or other on the back 
of an old envelope. I have just over ;^8oo.” 

“ Splendid ! ” cried her mother. 

“ That includes, of course, Aunt Emily’s legacy.” 

“ Of course. I never heard of a girl who made 
£Soo all by herself. If you invest it in War Bonds, 
as I think you ought to do because it would be quite 
safe, it would bring in — let me see, five times eight 
arc thirty-five — no, no — forty. It would bring in 
forty pounds a year. That added to my seventy 
would make — seven and four are — I always hate 
to do anything with a seven, it’s quite the nastiest 
figure of all — eleven, I think. That’s over two 
pounds a week. We should never starve at all 
events. I cannot tell you what a relief it is to 


10 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

know that. And if anything happened to me, 
you would have ” 

Mother ! ’’ Ella interrupted savagely. “ You 
must not talk like that.’’ 

‘‘ Why not, my dear child ? I often feel that my 
course is nearly run and ” 

“ You’re talking utter rot,” Ella again inter- 
rupted. She was very pale, because her mother 
was putting into words the very thought that had 
been hammering insistently at her own brain and 
had so hastened the process of washing-up. 

Mrs Danesford smiled wanly and fell silent. 

What I want to say is this,” said Ella hurriedly, 
‘‘ I feel that I have the right to a jolly good holiday.” 

“ You have, undoubtedly,” Mrs Danesford agreed. 

And I mean to have one,” said Ella, looking 
very fierce about it. 

‘‘ Would you care for Rhyl again ? ” Mrs Danes- 
ford asked rather fearfully. 

‘‘ The best thing in Rhyl was Boots’s library. 
They had quite a decent collection of books. Good 
thing they had, because it rained nearly all the time 
we were there. Do you remember Miss Ryder in 
our boarding-house ? And her bag of shrimps for 
tea ? ‘ I really do not know what to do with these 
things. Some people have the knack, the same 
as some people can make light pastry. I never 
could. My pastry is always as heavy as lead. 
First of all you break the poor thing’s back, like 
that. Then you take his head and tail off. There ! 
That’s not so bad. Can you do it, Mr Evans ? 
I never could. Not that I often have shrimps for 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


II 


tea, but in Rhyl one must do something. That’s a 
horrid one. He’s all smushy. Still you get a 
good many for threepence.’ ” 

Mrs Danesford laughed at Ella’s imitation. 

“ I remember her perfectly,” she said, “ and her 
daily bag of shrimps. She talked a great deal, but 
then she saved other people the trouble. The 
sands are excellent.” 

‘‘ For children,” Ella added. I believe I have 
grown out of my bucket and spade. Besides, when 
it was dry, the sands had a nasty trick of getting 
into the air instead of remaining in their proper 
place.” 

“ Would you prefer Llandudno ? ” 

I don’t want Wales at all.” 

Buxton perhaps ? We once had a very pleasant 
fortnight ” 

“ Too many bath-chairs. I should develop rheum- 
atism on the spot and be wheeled about the 
gardens every day. Besides, I want the sea.” 

Mrs Danesford, by a gesture, declared that she 
was at the end of her suggestions. She was too 
tired to think and too exhausted to be deeply 
interested. 

Ella had braced herself to begin again when a 
knock at the front door caused a diversion. She 
expected that it was Mrs Murphy, the charwoman, 
to say that she could not come to-morrow because 
one of her many children had broken a leg or some- 
thing. Mrs Murphy’s children had as great a 
genius for breaking bones as their mother had for 
breaking crockery. 


12 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

Good gracious ! ” Ella exclaimed when she 
opened the door and found Jack Challenor, her 
late employer, on the step. 

“ May I come in ? ” Jack asked a little nervously. 

“ Why, certainly,” Ella replied. I hope you 
didn’t consider my exclamation extremely rude. 
I expected to find our Irish charwoman. You will 
have to come into the kitchen. It’s the only place 
where we have a fire.” 

‘‘ Thank you,” Jack replied. I shall be ” 

Oh, look here ! ” Ella interrupted hastily, 
lowering her voice. ‘‘ When we go inside I want 
you to back me up in anything I say.” 

‘‘ But I don’t ” • Jack began. 

“ Bother your buts,” Ella again interrupted, an 
unwonted excitement explaining, no doubt, her 
new method of addressing her old employer. 

‘‘ Very well, I promise,” he said, and followed 
her into the room. 

Mrs Dancsford received Jack politely and with- 
out referring to the kitchen. She knew that he 
had served in the Air Force and had been brought 
down over the German lines. She had heard of 
his daring escape from a prisoners’ camp and knew 
that he had been immensely popular with the men 
at the factory when his father died from overwork, 
and he had taken up the reins, without even a 
holiday, after demobilization. But she had not 
seen him previously. She liked him. He looked 
strong and clean. He had kind eyes, especially 
when he looked at Ella. And his slight limp was 
scarcely noticeable. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

‘‘We were talking about a holiday,” Ella in- 
formed Jack as soon as formalities were completed. 

“ An interesting subject,” Jack hazarded with 
rather a wry smile. 

“ I want a nice long one,” Ella continued with 
a swift glance at her mother. 

“ A short holiday is really very little good,” Jack 
responded, sending a message to Ella that he 
quite understood. 

“ Nothing less than a year will satisfy me,” Ella 
announced in the tone one would imagine an 
ambassador to use in presenting an ultimatum. 

“ A year, Ella I ” Mrs Danesford exclaimed, 
roused once again out of a reverie. “ You cannot 
mean ” 

“ I do, mother,” Ella interrupted. “ I am going 
to have a full year and not a day less.” 

Mrs Danesford sighed. 

“ The young people of to-day are quite beyond 
me,” she said to Jack Challenor. “ Of course 1 
don’t know very much about them except what 1 
gather from the newspapers. But I did hope that 
Ella would not be spoilt when she went out to work 
in a munition factory. I am afraid it has not done 
her any good. A year’s holiday ! Who ever heard 
of such a thing ? ” 

“ A year soon passes,” Jack replied lightly and 
confidently. 

Ella glared at him. He had promised to back 
her up and probably thought that he was ful- 
filling his pledge. Obviously she didn’t think 
much of his effort. 


H 


£lla Keeps hoUsE 

1 mean a year is not so very long,” he corrected, 
growing rather red under Ella’s flashing eyes. I 
could do with a year or so myself.” 

And you are a man,” commented Mrs Danes- 
ford. “ Really I cannot understand it. My poor 
husband never had more than a fortnight and 
thought himself lucky to get even that. I have 
feared for some time that the world is growing more 
selfish. Still I never expected that Ella would 
demand — — ” 

“ And I’m not going into rooms to be at the 
mercy of some scheming landlady or other,” 
Ella interrupted. 

‘‘ I hate rooms and landladies,” Jack remarked, 
backing her up this time with a good conscience. 

What are you going to do ? ” Mrs Danesford 
demanded, sitting up in her chair. 

“ I am going to take a house,” Ella announced 
with the greatest determination. It will be a 
real dream-house, with a lounge hall and a tennis- 
court and a cedar tree ” 

‘‘ All in the house ? ” Jack asked slyly. 

‘‘ You may laugh at me,” Ella retorted, tears 
forcing their way into her eyes, ‘‘ but I am in deadly 
earnest. I am going to have a house like the one 
we used to have when father was with us. Mother 
will help me to entertain my friends. I know I have 
no friends here. How could I ? But I can make 
friends and I will. We will be happy — for a year.” 

‘‘ I say,” Jack exclaimed, now very red in the 
face and extremely uncomfortable. I beg your 
pardon. I wasn’t laughing at you. I shouldn’t 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 15 

think of such a thing. I have the utmost sym- 
pathy with you. And you needn’t say you have 
no friends here. That’s rather unkind, you know, 
to ” 

“ I have no friends,” Ella insisted. ‘‘ And 
neither has mother. We are poor and live in a 
back street. How could we have friends ? But 
I have done with it, and with everybody belonging 

to it. To-morrow I shall ” 

Hang it all 1 ” Jack exclaimed, twisting his 
chair round to face the angry girl. Hang it all ! ” 
Exactly,” Ella retorted, growing calmer as 
Challoner grew more confused. Hang it all 1 ” 

‘‘ Whatever is the matter ? ” Mrs Danesford 
intervened. “ I do hope you two are not going to 
quarrel.” 

Oh dear no,” Ella replied with a bewitching 
smile. We are quite good friends. And Mr 
Challoner agrees with me about the house and the 
holiday. Don’t you, Mr. Challoner ? ” 

‘‘ Um — 'Certainly,” Jack replied. I think it’s 
an excellent idea.” 

‘‘ But it will take every penny of your money,” 
Mrs Danesford exclaimed, addressing Ella. 

‘‘ Very probably,” Ella replied as if that were a 
mere trifle. 

“ But what will you do when the year is up and 
your money all spent ? ” the mother asked 
anxiously. 

‘‘ I have not even ” Ella began. 

But Jack interrupted her. 

“ I can reassure you on that point,” he said 


i6 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

turning with a smile to Mrs Danesford. I came 
up to-night to offer Miss Danesford a post as 
secretary in our business. The offer will remain 
open for a year.” 

Ella flashed a look at Jack which said plainly : 

Now you are indeed backing me up and I am 
grateful.” Mrs Danesford seemed satisfied and 
obviously believed that business houses were in the 
habit of keeping appointments open for years. 
When the conversation drifted into other channels 
the elderly lady again sank back in her chair and 
turned her mind away from the present. 

You are anxious about your mother,” Jack 
said sympathetically in the hall while he was putting 
on his overcoat. 

Horribly,” Ella replied with a tremor in her 
voice. ‘‘ I am quite sure that, if she stays here, 
she will die.” 

But why this roundabout method of getting 
her away ? Why not tell her that her state of 
health necessitates a change of air and that kind 
' of thing ? ” 

Tell her ! ” exclaimed Ella, flashing a scornful 
glance at his face. ‘‘ How like a man ! She would 
simply refuse to go. She would much rather die 
here in this odious street than spend my money. 
I know Mother.” 

‘‘ It’s rather silly of her,” Jack said. 

Of course it’s silly of her,” Ella agreed, but 
with some scorn in her voice. Women are all 
silly. That’s why they are so much better than 
men.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


17 

Some men are silly enough,” Jack said feel- 
ingly. 

No, they’re not. That’s where they fail. 
They are silly, but not silly enough. They will 
sacrifice a little, but not everything. When a 
woman loves she will give all she possesses without 
a thought. A man sits down and counts the cost.” 

Jack was apparently unable to make any reply. 

‘‘ It w^as very good of you,” Ella went on, to 
invent a secretaryship for me. It will set mother’s 
mind at rest about my future and make it ever so 
much easier for me to get her away.” 

I was quite serious about that,” Jack replied 
hastily. After you had gone to-night I dis- 
covered that I Couldn’t do without you. I mean 
— you know — the men all like you, and orders for 
the light car are simply tumbling in. It won’t be 
the same place without you, and I find I can’t 
keep my mind fixed — I mean there’s so much unrest 
about that — well, something will happen. I wish 
you weren’t going aw^ay.” 

“ You are very kind,” Ella replied rather stiffly 
and with her brows knitted. “ But I must go. 
You see that yourself.” 

I suppose you must,” he admitted grudgingly. 
‘‘ But I hope,” he added as he fumbled for the latch, 
“ that you won’t go and fall in love with some 
damned — I beg your pardon— I mean I hope you 
will stick to business. Hang it all ! that’s not it 
either. I hope you won’t forget. Good night.” 

Ella did not return immediately to the kitchen. 
She stood in the cold hall for quite three minutes 


18 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

with her head on one side and her eyes half closed. 
What did Jack Challoner really mean ? 

Finally Ella gave up the riddle. She went to 
bed thoroughly satisfied with her project. She 
had sufficient confidence in herself to believe that 
she could reconstruct her mother’s life and bring 
back, with the old interests, the former health and 
happiness. And if, at the back of her mind, there 
lurked romantic possibilities for herself, when her 
mother should be well again, who could blame her ? 

Jack Challoner, on the other hand, wandered 
about the dull cold streets till three o’clock in the 
morning. The cats that slunk along the deserted 
foot-paths took no notice of him, but a policeman, 
meeting his mate, remarked that, although he had 
heard a good many men curse women, he had never 
before heard a young feller damn a woman so 
completely and whole-heartedly as that there chap 
was doing. 


CHAPTER II 


W HEN Ella awoke, next morning, she 
wondered for a moment what delightful 
thing had happened to her. Remem- 
brance came and with it a surge of warm blood 
to heart and face. She sat up and smiled at the 
wall over the foot of her bed. Usually she hated 
that wall. It was so offensively, so immodestly, 
close to her. And when she was run down in 
health or depressed in spirits the wall-paper 
appeared to be covered with innumerable ghoulish 
faces that mocked her until she was on the verge 
of screams. This morning the wall was modest, 
if not actually retiring. And there was not a jeer- 
ing face on the whole of its forty-eight square feet. 

She was going to take a house. And she was 
going to spend £Soo, Of course, in the idiom of 
the factory, the spending of such a large sum of 
money would take a lot of doing. But she was 
young and vigorous. She believed that she could 
accomplish the task And if, at the end of the 
year, she had a good deal of money left she decided, 
then and there, that she would gather together, in 
her own house, all the young men and maidens of 
her acquaintance and give them, as a sort of fare- 
well festivity, such a dinner and dance as they had 

19 


20 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

never known. It would not be exactly a freak 
dinner, like those she had read about in books 
and newspapers. She would not, for example, 
hire an actress to step out of a plum-pudding on 
the dining table. Nor would she present each 
guest with a rope of pearls or anything like that. 
But she would give them goodness knows how 
many expensive courses for dinner, and possibly 
champagne, if it could be obtained, to drink. 

Then she thought of some of the poor girls whom 
she had known or heard about. Poor devils who 
drew fashion-plates for a living and borrowed money 
every month from their landladies. Poorer crea- 
tures still who wrote books that did not pay the 
benevolent publishers even for the paper they were 
printed on. Pitiable spinsters who taught tricky 
little imps and still more tricky flappers in secon- 
dary schools under the implacable eye of an ancient 
head-mistress who had long since forgotten her 
own youth. How she pitied them all. Not one 
of them had the luck to be possessed of a house 
and £Soo, 

Having thus congratulated herself and com- 
miserated others she jumped out of bed, dressed 
in two minutes, rushed downstairs, and cooked 
the breakfast. 

Ella took her mother’s breakfast up to her 
bedroom. She lit a fire in the tiny grate and 
informed the protesting lady that she was going 
to enjoy a day in bed. Mrs. Murphy had arrived 
and, as the children were all sound in bone and 
cuticle, would probably remain all day. Ella did 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


21 


not venture to say that the charwoman had not 
considered it worth while to take off her bonnet ; 
the children had been so good ever since they awoke 
that something particularly dreadful was sure to 
happen before very long. 

Ella was now free to take the first step in her 
great adventure. She resolutely put away from 
her mind the thought of her mother’s weakness, 
her lack of appetite, and her pallor ; and, with her 
outdoor things, she put on some of the ecstasy 
that the fledgings would experience, a little later, 
as they spread their untried wings for their first 
flight into the blue. She was going only to the 
free library, to copy in a note-book the names and 
addresses of house-agents who offered desirable 
residences on the advertising pages of Coiintry 
Life and other periodicals ; but she went with the 
rapture of Apollo in his pursuit of Daphne, or of 
Byron to mourn on his lonely shore. 

After dinner Ella took her knitting to her mother’s 
room. She wanted to talk about the glories of the 
coming time. She wished to taste, in advance, 
the joys that would soon be hers. And she hoped 
that the pleasures of anticipation would rouse her 
mother from a state of lethargy that was rapidly 
becoming chronic. 

‘‘ I have worried myself into a perfect fever over 
this mad scheme of yours,”Mrs. Danesford exclaimed, 
almost as soon as Ella had settled herself in her 
chair. I never heard of such a thing in my life. 
You used to be so sensible, so reliable. I suppose 
it’s the war as usual. The whole world i§ turned 


22 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


upside down. I don’t know myself whether I am 
on my head or my heels.” 

It was on the tip of Ella’s tongue to say that, 
strictly speaking, she was on her back. But she 
bit her lip and remained silent. Even excitement, 
she thought, was better than indifference. 

“ I’m quite sure that your poor father, if he 
were alive, would agree with me,” Mrs. Danesford 
continued. Not that he often did, where you 
were concerned. He always took your part and 
said that it was the scientific way to develop your 
individuality. Scientific fiddlesticks ! He has de- 
veloped your individuality too well. These modern 
theories of education are perfectly hopeless. Let 
a child do what it likes, and pull the furniture to 
pieces, and see what happens. It will be satisfied 
with nothing less than a whole year’s holiday, and 
it will spend £^oo on pure selfishness. That’s what 
it is, Ella. It’s pure selfishness. I always said 
your father would turn you into a selfish woman 
when you grew up. It comes from giving in to you 
so often.” 

Something, it may have been her father’s method 
of education, or it may have been love for the irate 
woman in the bed, had taught Ella self-control. 
She still maintained silence and went on with her 
jumper. The only outward and visible sign of 
what was going on within, was the tremendous 
acceleration of the speed of her knitting. 

I say, mumsie, haven’t you a Paisley shawl 
hidden away somewhere ? ” Ella asked after a few 
minutes’ silence, 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 23 

Yes, dear. And a very good one too. Your 
father often wanted me to drape the back of the 
piano with it, but I never would. It was far too 
nice for that.” 

“ It’s a good thing you didn’t,” said Ella. 

‘‘ Why, dear ? ” 

‘‘ Because I saw in the Ladies^ Field to-day a 
most delightful evening cloak made from one. It 
was trimmed with fur and ” 

“ My old seal tippet would be the very thing,” 
Mrs. Danesford interrupted eagerly. “ I’m sure 
there would be quite enough to make collar and 
cuffs and a band round the bottom. I should 

certainly require an evening cloak if we But 

what am I talking about ? It’s a mad idea and 
Pm not going to encourage a child of mine in such 
folly.” 

‘‘You have a grey afternoon gown that you 
have never worn hanging in your wardrobe. It 
might ” 

“ It’s rather old-fashioned now, dear. Still, it 
could easily be altered — Miss Baker is quite good 
at alterations — and with a silk jumper to go over 
the bodice it would do splendidly for most oc- 
casions. Women of my age are wearing silk 
jumpers, I think, and after all I am not so very 
old. But I’m not going to encourage you in 
your folly. As I have said I’m not even going 
to talk about it. If you insist upon such utter 
madness I shall at all events have a good^ con- 
science ” - SSi 

“ Granny’s black silk skirt would make an 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


24 

excellent underskirt, don’t you think ? It’s a 
lovely piece of stuff ” 

It would indeed, and the dress I usually wear 
could be turned. But no ! I will not be 
responsible ” 

You are pretty well off for hats.” 

‘‘ I should want But where’s my dressing- 

gown ? I have the most brilliant idea.” 

She jumped out of bed. For the next two hours 
or so she examined and discussed clothes. At 
first she sat up frequently on her heels and inveighed 
against the madness of Ella’s scheme. But these 
interruptions became less frequent as the interest 
in her sartorial renovations grew. For the first 
time for many weary months she was really ani- 
mated. For the first time she used her hands as 
if they actually belonged to her. Colour came into 
her cheeks and light into her eyes. Ella watched 
the first phase of her re-creative work and saw 
that it was good. 

Women, compared with men, labour under many 
and serious disadvantages. A platitudinous state- 
ment like this is seldom completely comprehended. 
If a man wants treasure he fits out an expedition 
and soon finds it. If he desires gold or diamonds 
he bolts off to the Yukon or South Africa and 
returns in a few years with as much or as many as 
he can carry. If he wants a wife, the business is 
easier still, and he needn’t even leave England. 
Whereas if a woman wanted ever so badly to go off 
in search of a treasure island she would find it 
impossible to sign on a crew for the job. If she 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


25 

wanted nuggets of gold or bags of diamonds she 
would simply have to buy them. And if she set 
out in search of a husband she would be written 
down as a forward hussy, and all the men would run 
>way from her as if she were a mad dog or a 
religious meeting. 

It is extremely likely that a man with £800 to 
spend would soon have found a decent house in 
which to spend it. Agents would never have dared 
to lure a man into a decrepit old house, in the 
middle of a marsh, with rotting timbers and rats 
that had to be kicked out of the way, and tell him 
to his face that it was a desirable residence. Nor 
would they have had the impudence to send him 
to the other side of England, with railway fares 
what they are, to inspect a beautiful sea-side resi- 
dence from which the sea could not be seen even 
with a telescope. 

These things, and more also, were done to a 
woman. Ella had read books dealing with the 
stately homes of England. She had seen ideal 
houses pictured in dozens of periodicals. The 
people responsible for these productions were, like 
certain optimistic moralists, simply trying to cover 
up the rotten condition of England and lead credu- 
lous people to believe that the country was better 
than it really was. They were, like men of old, 
crying peace when there was no peace. The ex- 
tremely beautiful and highly desirable residences, 
the snug little properties and delightful country 
houses, were myths or worse. At all events that 
was the conclusion that Ella Danesford reached. 


c 


26 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

And she didn’t reach it without much travail of both 
body and soul. It cost her, also, a lot of money. 

Ella soon learned to understand, and therefore to 
sympathize with, the position of the ambitious 
politician who sets out to become Prime Minister 
and ends by accepting the position of chairman of 
the Urban District Council ; or of enthusiastic 
clergymen who aim at bishoprics and are glad at 
last to be appointed rural deans. She sloughed one 
indispensable thing after another, finally relinquish- 
ing her irreducible minima — a lounge hall in the 
house and a cedar tree in the garden. She would 
have taken anything in the shape of a house as 
other people take anything in the shape of office. 

During this trying time Ella, like so many young 
people, derived much strength and inspiration from 
Emerson. It was good, under the circumstances, 
to know that ‘‘ the passion for sudden success is 
rude and puerile.” And she tried to believe that 
“ it is enough if you work in the right direction.” 
She found, however, that it was easier to agree with 
Emerson, as with most other people, after a good 
supper at home than when interviewing agents or 
going over ramshackle houses abroad. When 
Emerson failed her, she bucked herself up with a 
story, which she had heard once in the City Temple 
in London, of a miner who had thrown down his 
pick-axe when another stroke would have brought 
down a whole avalanche of gold. 

Ella actually threw down her pick-axe in dis- 
gust. An oleaginous house-agent, who quoted Ella 
Wheeler Willcox, attempted to kiss her in the dirty 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


27 

scullery of a derelict mansion. She struck him 
on the eye, or somewhere near it, with the key and 
rushed back to the railway station, determined to 
give up her futile quest. Fortunately a train was 
just about to start. 

Poor Ella felt and looked very miserable and 
depressed. It was apparently impossible to find a 
furnished house, even remotely resembling her 
house of dreams, that was to let. Not only so but, 
at home, the excitement of the w^ardrobe had begun 
to pall and her mother was rapidly lapsing into her 
former condition of lethargy. It was really too 
bad of Providence to be so unkind. The pessi- 
mists were right after all. Life was simply one 
dashed disappointment after another. 

Suddenly a tiny, warm, soft, hand stole into 
Ella’s. She looked down and discovered a little 
boy of about seven. She had been too indignant 
at the house-agent to notice him when she took 
her seat in the carriage. She smiled her gratitude 
and squeezed his little hand. The dear little fellow 
knew that she was in trouble and showed his sym- 
pathy in a very charming manner. 

I say,” the boy exclaimed as Ella bent her 
head, ‘‘ is your guinea-pig dead ? ” 

No, dear,” Ella replied. 

Then why are you looking so sad ? ” 

Am I looking sad ? ” 

You were. You’re a bit better now.” 

“ That’s because such a nice little boy is kind.” 

“ Is it ? Haven’t you any little boys of your 
own ? ” 


28 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


No, I have not.” 

“ Why haven’t you ? ” 

“ Well, you see I am not married ? ” 

“ Why aren’t you ? ” 

“ I really don’t think that I can tell you,” said 
Ella with genuine amusement. She had, as a 
matter of fact, never thought about it. 

Humph ! ” commented the boy. Obviously 
he had lost some respect for a person who could 
not answer a straightforward question. He re- 
mained silent for quite thirty seconds. 

Can’t you have some little boys of your own 
wifout being married ? ” he asked at length, 
returning to the charge. 

“ Well- — um — it isn’t usual,” Ella replied, making 
the best of a difficult business. 

Why isn’t it ? ” the boy continued per- 
severingly. 

‘‘ Because it isn’t,” was Ella’s extremely feeble 
and unsatisfactory reply. 

Again the boy said “ Humph I ” But he had 
not finished his investigations. 

“ Mummy ! Why can’t this lady have a little 
boy of her own wifout being married ? ” 

The appeal to a higher authority was made in a 
higher tone. A lady on the opposite side of the 
carriage responded to the appeal, although not 
in the way the boy expected. 

‘‘ I do hope he’s not worrying you,” she said, 
addressing Ella. ‘‘ He’s for ever asking questions. 
Both his father and I do our very best to stop him, 
but we have a friend, or perhaps I should say an 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 29 

acquaintance, who encourages him. He’s a nov- 
elist or something in the writing line although he 
never does any work that I know of. He has the 
queerest ideas about everything. I believe he got 
them somewhere abroad. I know he has been in 
Ireland and America. I do think that people with 
queer ideas ought to keep them to themselves. 
Don’t you ? I’m sure nobody wants to hear them. 
It’s bad enough to be bothered with the old ones 
without having new ones flung at your poor head 
every other day.” 

The boy’s mother was obviously a loquacious 
lady. In a surprisingly short time Ella knew that 
her name was Mrs Henmore, that she was the wife 
of the vicar of Midlington-by-the-Sca ; that the 
clergy were ridiculously underpaid and had neither 
the pluck nor the sense to strike for higher salaries ; 
that she herself had been brought up most carefully 
and without ever soiling her hands ; that, as a 
parson’s wife, she had been obliged to work harder 
than a galley-slave ; and that she was perfectly 
sick of the whole wretched business. 

Ella listened with an appearance of sympathy 
which she did not really feel. Mrs Henmore’s 
troubles were as nothing compared with the horrors 
of house-hunting. Indeed Ella preferred little 
Cyril’s embarrassing questions to his mother’s flood 
of querulous complaining. But she became gen- 
uinely interested a few minutes later. 

‘‘ Our house is a perfect white elephant,” the 
vicar’s wife continued. It would require at least 
^500 a year to run it properly and w’e have only 


30 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

three hundred. We have to wait months and 
months to get even that. I’m perfectly sick of 
trying to make fourpence do the work of a shilling. 
Last year I had to spend over £200 of my own little 
capital and I had only one new costume and not 
more than two hats. I’m about the worst dressed 
woman in the parish and I used to be the best. All 
the money goes on the beastly house. It’s per- 
fectly scandalous. I would like to make the bishop 
and his wife live in our vicarage on our income. He 
would soon make a scene in the House of Lords or 
wherever it is he goes to in London when we want 
him to come to Midlington.” 

Ella expressed her sympathy and suggested that 
Mrs Henmore ought to be glad to have a house of 
any kind. 

‘‘ But I haven’t,” Mrs Henmore announced 
triumphantly. I have taken rooms for Arthur 
in the towm and I have shut the horrible place 
up. 

‘‘Shut it up!” Ella gasped. 

“ There you are I ” exclaimed Mrs Henmore 
producing from her handbag an enormous key 
which Ella wished she had had when she struck 
the house-agent. “ My poor furniture will go to 
rack and ruin, but I don’t care. It will be good for 
Arthur to live in rooms for a year. He’ll find out 
the difference. And it will be good for the parish- 
ioners to discover how many things the vicar’s wife 
did for them without one farthing of payment. I 
took the law into my owm hands and the bishop 
may stand on his head if he doesn’t like it.’ 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 31 

Have you left your husband, then ? ” Ella 
inquired. 

Not exactly. Pll run down now and again to 
see him. Between the Sundays, you know ; not 
at the week-end.” 

But where are you going to live ? ” 

With my own people in Darchester. Mother 
is as pleased as Punch, and Pll be able to go to the 
theatre every week to say nothing of decent shops. 
There isn’t one in Midlington. I assure you our 
good people object even to the cinema. I feel as if I 
were off for a good long holiday. It’s perfectly 
lovely. No more Sunday Schools, no more 

Mothers’ Meetings, no more visiting, no more 

Oh ! I feel young again.” 

“ What sort of a house is the vicarage ? ” Ella 
asked. 

‘‘ A ramshackle old place and horribly difficult 
to work. It can be done with two maids but really 
requires three. I never could afford more than two 
and had to work myself till I looked dying on my 
legs. It is most inconvenient, because the kitchen 
is so far from the dining-room and the passages 
are miles long. We spent a good deal of money on 
it when we first went. Arthur fancied a lounge 
hall and had two or three walls knocked down to 
make one.” 

‘‘ Is there a garden ? ” Ella asked, after drawing 
a long breath. 

“ I should think so. And that means a man. 
And a man means wages. There is a lot of grass 
to mow and one horrible black cedar tree that 


32 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

blocks the view from the dining-room windows. 
I really don’t know why people built such places. 
I suppose they thought anything good enough for a 
parson and his wife.” 

‘‘ Why don’t you let the house ? ” Ella asked, 
completely overcome by the cedar tree. It 
would be much better both for the house and the 
furniture.” 

Let it ! ” exclaimed Mrs. Henmore. I never 
dreamt of it. Nobody but a fool would take it.” 

‘‘ I believe I know some one who would take 
it,” said Ella quite quietly. 

Do you ? ” cried Mrs Henmore, grasping Ella’s 
arm. “ Do you really ? For goodness’ sake don’t 
tell him what I said about the kitchen and pas- 
sages. He might like long passages. He would 
certainly never be troubled by the smell of the 
cooking. And the furniture is really excellent. 
It cost a heap of money. There’s a piano in the 
drawing-room, and Arthur left his flute behind him 
because Mrs Stone wouldn’t have him as a lodger 
if he took it with him.” 

Mrs Henmore was voluble and inconsequent in 
her talk, but she proved to be suflRcieaitly shrew^d 
when it came to a matter of business. She dis- 
covered virtue in long passages and beauty in a 
cedar tree; she pointed out the fact that most 
vicarages had been built at the time when parsons 
were also squires and that they were therefore 
most suitable for the gentry or the would-be gentry. 
And when she discovered that Ella herself was the 
possible tenant she became positively eloquent 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 33 

about the charms of the local tennis club and the 
sporting nature of the golf links. She also hinted, 
quite delicately, that there was plenty of social 
life, apart from sport, for such as could afford to 
indulge in dissipation of that nature. 

In a surprisingly short time after meeting Mrs 
Henmore, Ella had signed an agreement by which 
she undertook to pay fifty pounds each quarter day 
for one year, to keep the vicarage house in tenant- 
able repair, to replace breakages, and to do quite 
a number of other things that she neither under- 
stood nor troubled about. Legal jargon irritated 
her, and a memorandum of agreement was more 
formidable than a volume of sermons. It was 
quite sufficient for her to know that she had rented 
a furnished house near the sea for j[200 a year and 
that the house was not so very far removed from 
the house of her dreams. 

Jack Challenor had developed an interest in 
Ella’s chase after a house. He came to River 
Street twice a week to inquire about her progress. 
He shewed far fewer signs of despondency than 
Ella when disappointment followed disappoint- 
ment. In fact Ella was decidedly cross with him 
more than once because he refused to become 
dowm-hearted. 

While the negotiations for the vicarage were 
proceeding, Ella told him nothing whatever about 
the turn of fortune’s wheel. Not until the docu- 
ment was signed, sealed, and delivered, would she 
say a single word about her triumph. He would 
see then how false were his stupid gibes about 


34 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

women as home-finders. As fate would have it, 
he called on the evening of the very day on which 
the agreement had been completed. 

Any luck ? ” he asked with the usual twinkle 
in his eyes. 

Rather better,” Ella replied carelessly. 

On the track of something fresh ? ” 

Do you know Midlington ? ” 

The twinkle disappeared from his eyes as 
though a switch had clicked somewhere inside 
his head. 

You’re not thinking of going there ? ” he 
asked anxiously. 

‘‘ I am thinking very seriously about it,” Ella 
replied, puzzled at his solemnity. 

It’s the rottenest little hole in England,” he 
said fiercely. 

‘‘ It is no such thing,” she countered. ‘‘ The 
village, or town, is quite picturesque, and there is 
the loveliest bay just round the corner. I have 
been to hundreds of places and I have never seen 
one so perfectly idyllic.” 

You must not go there,” he said in the hard 
tone that he occasionally employed to a truculent 
workman. 

‘‘ Indeed 1 ” said Ella, raising her eyebrows 
And might I ask why not ? ” 

‘‘ Because — because of the people. They ” 

Do you know all the people in Midlington ? ” 
Ella asked in a very superior tone indeed. 

I don’t — damn them ! I beg your pardon. I 
mean, I’m sure you wouldn’t like them.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 35 

“ I shall be able to tell you soon whether I do 
or not.” 

‘‘ Do you mean to say you have decided without 
telling me anything about it ? ” 

‘‘ I have taken Midlington Vicarage for a year,” 
said Ella with a scornful glance from his head 
to his boots. The agreement was signed this 
morning. I have a copy of it in my desk.” 

Jack jumped to his feet and paced up and down 
the room. It was a difficult task, because he 
covered all the available space in two strides each 
way. Still he did it. 

‘‘ It is only forty-five miles away,” Ella informed 
him. “ You will be able to run down sometimes 
on the car — if you wish to see us.” 

Jack threw himself into his chair. He remained 
silent for several minutes. When he spoke again 
his words were forced and his manner uneasy. 
And he went away without waiting for supper. 
He said he had to go back to the office. 


CHAPTER III 


J ACK CHALLENOR’S objections to Midling- 
ton did not weigh one tittle with Ella. She 
was in the seventh heaven of delight because 
she had at last secured a house near the sea. And 
if there had been a heaven higher still she would 
have leaped into it because her house was a vicarage. 
When but a little girl she had loved and devoured 
tales in which the heroine was a vicar’s lovely 
daughter who lived in a beautiful old vicarage 
overgrown with creepers and rambler roses. At 
about fourteen she had made up her mind to marry 
a parson, solely in order to live in some such lovely 
house. Later still she had become tremendously 
interested in the home of Charles Kingsley at 
Eversley and the house with the queer chimneys 
built by the lovable vicar of Morwenstow. Now, 
without the extremely doubtful addendum of 
marrying a vicar, she was to have a real vicarage for 
her very own. 

If Ella and her mother lived for the next few 
days in a mad whirl of excitement caused by pre- 
parations to go to Midlington, the people of that 
usually quiet parish were no less excited about their 
coming. Mrs Henmore’s extraordinary conduct 
was discussed at every tea-table and even in every 

36 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


37 

public house in the parish. If vicar’s wives arc 
good for little else, they at least provide conversa- 
tion for the gossips of the parish. 

This time Mrs Henmore had excelled herself. 
Formerly her clothes, and especially her hats, had 
called for severe condemnation from the righteous. 
Or details of the management of her household, 
elicited from servants who were not always devoid 
of imagination, had provided the thrifty with what 
they considered good reasons for reducing their 
contributions to various church funds. Smoke 
issuing from the guest-chamber chimney, parcels 
arriving by rail, and the doctor’s car at the vicarage 
door, all had been useful in their several ways. 
But for the vicar’s wife to leave the parish and let 
the vicarage ! The oldest parishioner, who could 
well remember nine vicars and seven vicars’ 
wives had never heard of such a thing in her 
long life. 

Some of the people, with an Englishman’s 
pathetic and childlike faith in representative bodies, 
thought that a committee should be formed with- 
out delay to consider the matter. Others were in 
favour of much more drastic steps ; the bishop, to 
begin with, ought to be informed at once of the 
terrible state of affairs in the parish. Some absent- 
minded souls — the vicarage was nearly two hundred 
years old — asked what they provided a vicarage 
for. Others, not so absent-minded, swore that they 
would not contribute a single penny to the offertory 
while the scandal lasted. But all agreed that 
something ought to be done. It is scarcely ncces- 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


38 

sary to say that, considering the unanimity of 
feeling, nothing was done. 

When a film-producer wishes to show that the 
inhabitants of a town or village are interested in a 
new arrival he collects a crowd in the open, where 
they can be photographed, and shouts at them 
through a megaphone until they look scared to 
death. That method is crude and inartistic, like 
so much that pertains to film production. It was 
not in any such way that the inhabitants of Mid- 
lington proved that they were interested in Mrs 
Henmore’s successors at the vicarage. 

It is quite true that there were more people than 
usual in the railway station when Ella opened the 
carriage door. But everybody there had some- 
thing to do. Some were sending off parcels, and 
others were inquiring if parcels had arrived. Some 
were looking up trains, because Spring had come 
and the holiday season was not so very far off. 
Some wanted a copy of a different newspaper from 
their usual one because of the political situation ; 
others wanted to know at first hand about the 
possibility of another railwaymen’s strike. The 
crowd in the station was due, therefore, to an 
entirely fortuitous combination of circumstances. 
The people who were not in the station were behind 
their own or somebody else’s curtains and there- 
fore invisible or nearly so. There was no crowd 
whatever in the streets through which the new 
arrivals drove. 

If Ella had not had hunter’s luck in her chase 
of a house, fate handsomely atoned when it came 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


39 

to the still more difficult quest for maids. Every- 
body does find some place to live in, if it is only a 
workhouse, a jail, or a derelict railway-carriage ; 
but there are hundreds of people who cannot find a 
maid, even if she were only an old-age pensioner, a 
criminal, or a Chinaman. Mrs Henmore’s two 
servants could have obtained fifty posts if they 
had chosen to leave Midlington. But they did not 
chose to do so. Each had a sweetheart in the 
town, and they were taking no chances. Accord- 
ingly Ella secured not only a cook-general but also 
a housemaid, and that, too, at merely a moderate 
increase of wages. It augured well for the future 
that she and her mother could take possession of a 
home that was both swept and garnished. 

The town, with the church in the centre and the 
Wesleyan chapel not far off, clustered round the 
little harbour. The vicarage was built on the 
rising ground behind the town. Mrs Danesford 
fell in love with the house at first sight ; it reminded 
her, as Ella had carefully and thoughtfully sug- 
gested, of the old home at Highmoor. Ella, who 
was not a little proud of her capture, thought it 
quite the loveliest and most convenient house in 
all the world. Tea was ready when they arrived, 
and Ella’s eyes were full of tears- when the maid 
closed the drawing-room door behind her. Mrs 
Daneford’s eyes were more than full ; they ran 
over. 

After tea the garden and grounds must needs be 
inspected. Here again everything was exactly as it 
ought to be. Even the gardener, as Ella hoped 


40 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

would be the case, proved to be a character. Pie 
informed the ladies, to Ella’s keen satisfaction, 
that slugs were like roaring lions. Mrs Danesford, 
although she had read a good deal of Meredith 
and was therefore familiar with all kinds of meta- 
phors, did not see the resemblance. She pressed 
him for an explanation. Whereupon he informed 
her that the Bible said so. 

Ain’t slugs the very devil ? ” he asked when 
Mrs Danesford said that she could not remember 
where slugs were mentioned in the Bible. “ And 
doan’t the Book say as the devils goes about like a 
roarin’ lion seekin’ what they can devour ? If that 
ain’t slugs I’m a Dutchman.” 

Ella could have hugged him. 

During the next fortnight Ella explored the 
town and a good deal of the neighbourhood. She 
discovered many interesting old houses and a num- 
ber of very charming pieces of scenery. And the 
sea never failed to delight her. Her mother dis- 
trusted the weather and remained in the house. 
She was much more interested in people than in old 
houses or picturesque cliffs. Seeing that the house 
was a furnished one, people in the neighbourhood 
would probably call quite soon. She would not 
like to miss anybody. 

Meanwhile the expected callers were waiting, 
some for servants’ gossip, others to see what Mrs 
Higginbotham, the acknowledged leader of Mid- 
lington society, would do. There had been so 
much talk about the vicarage that it was not 
easy to know what was the correct thing. And 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 41 

^ false step, in a place like Midlington, is not 
easily retraced. 

After all, the first caller proved to be Mrs Hen- 
more, the vicar’s wife. She had decided to run 
down to see Arthur pretty often just at first ; after- 
wards she would be able to slack off and have more 
time to enjoy herself. Besides, Mrs Stone, Arthur’s 
landlady, had been accustomed to let her rooms to 
visitors in the summer. That meant, of course, 
that she had developed all the vices of the profes- 
sional landlady. Arthur had not sufficient pluck 
to say bo to a goose, not to mention must ” to a 
landlady. And, even if he had the courage of a 
Daniel, only a woman could see through the tricks 
of another woman. 

“ I used to wonder,” said Mrs Henmore, who 
was obviously fresh from an encounter, ‘‘ why land- 
ladies preferred men to women as lodgers. I 
thought it was because men spent so much time in 
public houses and places and so allowed the land- 
ladies to use their sitting-rooms to entertain their 
friends in. But I was wrong. It is because men 
are perfect fools.” 

But they are not all fools,” pleaded Mrs Danes- 
ford. ‘‘ Even Carlyle used the word with ” 

‘‘ Every one of them,” interrupted Mrs Henmore, 
completely ignoring Carlyle. “ They will put up 
with anything rather than stand up to a landlady. 
Cowards ! A landlady is only a woman when all’s 
said and done. I wouldn’t have the same piece of 
meat served up to me five days in succession with- 
out somebody hearing about it. I wouldn’t pay 

P 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


42 

for butter when I was getting nothing but mar- 
garine. Neither would I pay for a quart of milk 
a day when I wasn’t using half a pint. But a man 
would do all that, and more, rather than say a word 
to the landlady.” 

‘‘ I am afraid landladies are rather rapacious,” 
Mrs Danesford remarked. 

‘‘ Rapacious ! ” cried Mrs Henmore. “ Women 
who take lodgers are the most horrible wretches 
living. I’m glad that nobody belonging to me ever 
sank so low. I’m told that quite a number of 
clergymen’s wives have been driven to it. Thank 
goodness, I’m not one of them. I’d rather die of 
starvation than treat a poor wretch of an ignorant 
man so shamefully.” 

Ella came in at this juncture and inquired jovially 
what poor wretch of a man had been shamefully 
entreated. 

“ Arthur, my husband,” Mrs Henmore replied. 
“ He looks dying on his legs already. And all 
through that horrible woman.” 

Do you mean his landlady ? ” Ella asked a 
little anxiously. 

“ Of course,” replied Mrs Henmore. I have 
just been saying that the most degrading work a 
woman can do is to take lodgers.” 

“ I hope I shall never come to that,” said Ella 
quite cheerfully. She had not had much experience 
of landladies and she suffered their degradation 
gladly. 

‘‘ It isn’t likely,” Mrs Henmore affirmed. 

And Ella smilingly agreed. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


43 

You rich people have the best of everything,’^ 
Mrs Henmore continued, following some mental 
process or other that was not very clear. “ Frankly, 
I’m often jealous. Indeed, if it weren’t for the 
dirt I believe I should become a socialist. Social- 
ists are always dirty, aren’t they ? My father 
brought me up most carefully. He was the most 
particular man I ever knew. He wouldn’t allow 
me to soil my hands or go to a dance. And look at 
my hands now. I’ve been out of it for a fortnight 
and yet they are just like a navvy’s. Not that I 
have ever seen a navvy’s hands. It isn’t likely. 
But mine are just as bad. You rich people don’t 
know what it is to toil until you feel dying on your 
legs.” 

“ But we arc not rich,” Mrs Danesford protested. 

‘‘ Of course not ! ” Mrs Henmore replied with 
splendid irony. “ Nobody ever is. At all events- 
everybody wants more than they’ve got. The worst 
of it, at present, is that everybody but parsons gets 
more. I don’t know. I’m sure, what we’re coming to. 
My husband is a clever man, a very clever man. 
He’s a beautiful preacher. The Midlington Telegraph 
nearly always prints the sermons he delivers when 
somebody of importance dies in the parish. In any 
other profession he would have made thousands. 
And if he had gone into business he would have 
been a millionaire at least. I’m glad he didn’t. 
Millionaires are so vulgar. Not that I have ever 
seen one to my knowledge. But I understand so.” 

“ My husband,” said Mrs Danesford deprecat- 
ingly, “ was a doctor and he never ” 


44 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

“ 1 know,” Mrs Henmore interrupted. ‘‘ Arthur 
would have made a splendid doctor too. He has 
got such a good bedside manner. Even as it is 
sick people love to see him come in. They say he 
always does them a lot of good. Of course that’s 
partly because he leaves them money. I don’t 
think he ought. It pauperizes them. If he had 
been a doctor he would have been simply inundated 
with patients and would have made a fortune in 
no time. As it is he will never make anything. 
I often tell him he has no spirit or he wouldn’t sit 
down under things the way he does.” 

“ Perhaps he makes all the better minister,” 
Mrs Danesford suggested with diffidence. 

‘‘ Perhaps he does,” said Mrs Henmore with 
something approaching a sniff. When I hear 
about these good, attentive, charitable ministers 
I would like to know what their wives think of it 
all. Not that I mind Arthur spending my money 
on subscriptions to this and that, and gifts to sick 
people who have sometimes as much as he has. 
It pleases him and I like him to be pleased. All I 
want is enough left to give Cyril a decent education. 
Not that education is worth much when it comes 
to making a living. ‘ The Lord will provide ’ is all 
very well for people who are idle and lazy and don’t 
mind waiting for the Lord to come along. I think 
it’s a pity it was ever put in the Bible. For my 
part I would rather do something for myself and 
save the Lord the trouble. I think it’s mean to ask 
the Lord to do what you won’t do yourself.” 

Mrs Danesford was a little shocked, She had 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


45 

never associated intimately with parsons and their 
wives and was unacquainted with the conversa- 
tional results of a familiarity with religious subjects. 
She attempted to turn the conversation into a safer 
channel by inquiring about the people who lived 
in Midlington. 

“ You’ll know them all soon enough,” Mrs Hen- 
more replied. ‘‘ I’m going on to Mrs Higgin- 
botham’s after I leave here. It’s very funny to be 
visiting somebody else in my own house. When 
I have told her all about you, she’ll call to see if 
it’s true, and the rest will follow like a flock of sheep. 
They have already criticized the furniture, and all 
that, so they will give their whole attention to your- 
selves. You needn’t mind, being strangers and 
only here for a year. So you’ll be doing me a good 
turn because they have been pulling me to bits 
ever since I let the vicarage. Not that that’s 
anything new. They’re always pulling me to pieces. 
A good many people think they’ll get into heaven 
by criticizing the vicar’s wife.” 

I think you said there is a tennis club,” Ella 
remarked, no doubt with the intention of eliciting 
information. 

Oh yes. Mrs Mapperley plays quite a good 
game when her knee isn’t full of fluid. Mrs Law- 
rence is a perfect sight ; she’s as big as a rhinoceros 
and wears very tight jumpers. Miss Watson used 
to play at Wimbledon, at least so she says, but it 
must have been quite fifty years ago. And as for 
Miss Boardman, well she is so jolly stuck-up 
that ” 


46 ELLA KEEPS HOtJSE 

“ But are there no men ? ” Ella interrupted in 
dismay. 

Not very many. You see they went away to 
the war and haven’t come back. Some of them 
have, of course, bank clerks and one or two others 
who were obliged to come, but they won’t play 
tennis. They go out in the boats and off for long 
walks. I think they cannot stand Miss Boardman. 
Still Major Shandon plays sometimes. At least 
he stands on the court and swears at the balls. 
You see he was wounded in the leg during the Boer 
war and can’t run very well. Besides he’s getting 
on in years, poor fellow.” 

Are there no young people ? ” Ella asked, her 
heart sinking low within her. 

“ That is my husband’s greatest worry,” replied 
Mrs Henmore, looking rather guilty, ‘‘ that and the 
War Memorial. He has often thought of starting 
whist drives and dancing in the schoolroom. They 
have been very successful out at Hebden where 
the church used always to be in debt ; now they 
can give subscriptions to Missionary Societies to 
prevent the heathen from dancing. But Mrs 
Higginbotham won’t have them. She never could 
learn to dance, so she thinks it immoral. The 
young people will not stop in Midlington. They 
say it’s a wash-up or something.” 

A wash out,” Ella suggested. 

“ Perhaps that’s it. Anyhow they say we’re a 
thousand years behind the times. It’s quite true, 
unfortunately. But I can’t afford to keep up to 
date. I have worn the same hat now for two 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


47 

seasons. If they would only pay parsons as well 
as other people I would soon get new things. It’s 
easy enough to keep a place up to date if you have 
plenty of money.” 

“ I met a young man in a Norfolk suit one 
day ” 

‘‘ That would be Mr Raynham, the novelist. 
At least he says he’s. a novelist. He’s not a bit 
conceited, so I don’t believe him. I know Amy 
Mansfield very well indeed. We were at school 
together. She wrote a book some years ago and 
paid somebody to publish it ; she has been so 
uppish ever since that there’s no dealing with her. 
He lives at the Bungalow on the edge of the moor. 
His sister is supposed to keep house for him, but 
she’s always away at women’s meetings and things. 
He himself hangs about the harbour all day talking 
to the men or sprawls about the rocks smoking a 
big pipe. I think he’s lazy.” 

But has he no recreations ? ” Ella asked. 

He goes off to the strikes,” Mrs Henmore 
replied. 

“ The strikes,” Ella echoed. 

‘‘ Arthur says he’s interested in industrial prob- 
lems or something of that kind. I don’t understand 
it. I’m sure I’d run away from a strike if I saw 
one coming. I always run aw’ay from bulls, some- 
times when they’re only cows. He has been 
through the war and probably suffers from some 
kind of shell-shock. The doctor is fairly young 
too, but he’s so busy that one never sees him unless 
one is ill.” 


4S ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

“ I noticed quite a nice house about a mile out 
>> 

on 

That’s Moor House. I should keep away from 
it if I were you. It’s a sort of convalescent home 
for drunkards and lunatics. They say the Midling- 
ton air is particularly good for that kind of thing. 
Nobody ever goes near it. You never know what 
people like that will do. I would rather run a 
thousand miles than enter the gate.” 

Ella sighed. She had built such beautiful and 
populous castles in the air, and now they had dis- 
solved into little more than a bungalow, inhabited 
by a lazy novelist, and a sort of amateur lunatic 
asylum. Was it for this that she was spending 
all her money ? 

“ By the way,” Mrs Henmore added brightly, 
‘‘ the woman — the lady — I don’t know — the person 
in the house next to the vicarage has a son. He 
has not been here yet but will probably arrive 
before the summer is over. And Lady Balbriggan, 
out at Snelston, has had a legacy left her, so that 
she may be able to bring her son in to tennis some- 
times. Last season she couldn’t afford the sub- 
scription. And then, of course, there may be some 
visitors now that the trains are running better. 
They say that Mr Fawson, who has been elected 
on the Urban Council, is going to insist upon getting 
out a poster with heaps of yellow sand and blue 
crabs to advertise the place. He’s a nasty little 
man but that’s why he was elected. They said it 
was about time that somebody was put on the 
Council who could make himself disagreeable.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 49 

After two hours of constant, and inconsequent, 
talk Mrs Henmore rose to go. She did not even 
feel dying on her legs.’’ In fact she was quite 
ready and prepared to go on to Mrs Higginbotham’s 
and talk for another two hours. Her vitality 
was enormous. 

“ The mother is very nice,” she said in reply to 
Mrs Higginbotham’s question, as soon as she had 
settled down to another tea. She’s rather fond 
of talking, perhaps, and doesn’t give other people 
much chance ; but that’s a very common fault in 
a woman.” 

Very,” replied Mrs Higginbotham grimly. 

“ The daughter is quite good-looking and, of 
course, beautifully dressed. But she looks rather 
discontented. I’m afraid she’s a little bit spoilt. 
In fact I believe she came down here with the ex- 
pectation of making a sensation, like the girls you 
read about in books. She looked quite glum when 
I said there were not many young men in Mid- 
lington.” 

“ You might have said there were none,” Mrs 
Higginbotham added. 

‘‘ I mentioned Mr Raynham and the doctor.” 

‘‘ They don’t count. Neither of them so much 
as looks at a girl. When Maud was at home last 
summer the doctor came only once when she hurt 
her ankle, and Mr. Raynham did not come at all 
to our garden party. What’s the good of men 
like that ? ” 

‘‘ None at all. But I didn’t want these people 
to be discouraged all at once. They are paying 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


SO 

£200 a year and expect to get something for it.’’ 

‘‘ I suppose they are very rich ? ” 

Very. And yet they are quite ladies. Their 
hands are as soft as yours.” 

Um. Then they couldn’t have been profit- 
eers.” 

Dear me, no. The father died before the war. 
He was a specialist or something, and you know 
what money they make.” 

‘‘ I know something about the fees they charge 
anyhow. When Maud had her operation — it was 
only a slight one, not more than twenty minutes 
altogether, I timed it by the dining-room clock — 
it cost us fifty guineas. Just think of it. More 
than two guineas a minute. Not even pounds but 
guineas, and you know how those odd shillings 
mount up. Talk about profiteering. How much 
a year do you think that comes to ? I have no idea 
how many minutes there are in a year but there 
must be a good many. Still I suppose I must call.” 


CHAPTER IV 


E lla was discouraged by Mrs Henmore’s 
babble. She had liked the girls with whom 
she had worked at the factory ; in many 
cases her feeling had been stronger than mere 
liking. She had always enjoyed a chat with the 
men, and many of them had won her sincere 
respect. But she longed for a different mental 
environment. The girls did not read her books, 
they did not think her thoughts. The men lived 
in an atmosphere that was not hers. She hated 
class distinctions and believed herself a true 
democrat ; but she longed to associate, if only for 
a time, with young people whose ideas of life and 
beauty were different from those of the workers 
in the factory. Jack Challenor had certainly 
been different from his workers ; but, at all events 
until she had given up her work, he had always 
remained more or less aloof. 

And now it appeared that the environment at 
Midlington was to be worse rather than better. 
She had pictured a host of charming girls, lively, 
good-humoured, witty, but with serious thoughts 
and noble aspirations in the secret places of their 
souls. She believed that lively and witty girls 
were invariably more thoughtful and more soulful 

51 


52 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

than their staider sisters. She had hoped to^ be 
permitted, in due time and after proving her quality, 
to enter those secret places and receive as well as 
give confidences. She had glimpsed clean-limbed ” 
and clean-souled young men, full of the ardour 
of youth but with youtli’s passion cleansed by the 
fire through which they had passed, associating on 
new and delightful terms of equality with the 
girls. And these young men, or at all events some 
of them, she had heard — in her dreams — speak to 
her of high hopes and gallant resolves. The girls 
had disappeared ; the men had shrunk to the 
dimensions of a lazy man of letters and a too busy 
doctor. Her airy castles had tumbled about her 
ears with a vengeance. 

But her disappointment with her human could 
not and did not affect her delight with her natural 
environment. The little town was commonplace, 
but the wind-swept moor, stretching for miles after 
the abrupt rise of the land from the sea, was 
glorious. And better even than the moor was a 
little bay south of the harbour and shut away from 
it by a jutting mass of black rock. 

This bay became Ella’s chapel. She liked it best 
on a bright day. Then the cliff, opposite which 
she sat, rose green-capped out of the water in a 
well-defined mass trailing its dark shadow behind ; 
between her and the cliff the shallow water, spread 
over sand, was a translucent green ; the undulating 
curve on her right, with its vague inner boundary of 
infant waves, shone like fine gold ; across the 
entrance to the bay a great irregular brown splash 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


53 

marked the growth of sca-weed beneath the waters ; 
outside, the open sea was a deep ultramarine, 
smudged here and there by the smoke of passing 
steamers. 

The nearness of humanity added to Ella’s enjoy- 
ment of the scene, and sound as well as sight became 
one of the avenues to her soul. The gurgle and 
splash of the water, the shrill cry of the sea-birds 
and their plop into the sea after their prey, had 
something added to them of real value when the 
wind bore to her ears sounds of human activity at 
the harbour. Now it was the creaking of a pulley 
in a block, or again the faint shout of men who were 
straining on a rope. Now she heard an old chanty, 
like Johnny was a warrior ” or “ What shall we do 
with the drunken tailor ? ” sung by some old blue- 
water sailor who had in his day run round the 
capstan on a wind-jammer ; then it was a new 
music-hall chorus, sung by younger voices and 
devulgarized by the open space and the cleansing 
sunshine. 

One April day Ella sat in a hollow in the rocks 
and watched the splendid game played by sunshine 
and shadow. Shadow ventured, timidly at first, 
like a girl, but rapidly like a girl growing bolder, 
on sunshine’s territory ; out jumped sunshine, 
vigorous as a healthy boy, and chased the intruder 
away. It was an absorbingly interesting game, 
although sunshine always won. But then Ella’s 
sympathies were entirely with sunshine. 

Suddenly Ella became aware that she was not 
alone. She looked up with some slight resentment 


54 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

because she feared that the play would be spoiled 
by spectators. In a moment she had forgotten 
all about the game. 

A girl of about Ella’s own age was making her 
way, in mad haste, over the rocks. Her clothes 
were in disorder, her boots were only partially 
laced, and she wore a wrap over her head ; but she 
was obviously not one of the common girls of the 
town. Although her face was almost purple from 
her exertions, and her mouth nearly wide open, 
Ella saw that she was extraordinarily beautiful. 
Eler movements, too, in spite of frequent stumbles, 
were unusually graceful. And there was a distinc- 
tion about her whole personality that the girls of 
Midlington lacked. Ella wondered who she was 
and what she was doing. 

The strange girl continued her headlong way 
until she arrived at the extreme point of the rocks. 
There she drew herself up, with an air of dignity, 
and threw the wrap from her head over her should- 
ers. Her hair, golden brown in colour and carelessly 
coiled, broke away and fell over the wrap. 

She stood for a full minute, motionless as the 
rocks, gazing at the water. 

There had been wind out at sea. The waves, 
in long unbroken lines, followed one another at 
regular intervals under the influence of the ground 
swell. With scarcely a ripple on their oily surface 
they ran up the rocks at the girl’s feet, recoiled, 
and hastened forward to break at last on the smooth ^ 
sand of the bay. 

Ella watched the girl with an intense fascination, 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


5S 

She saw her stretch out her arms and heard her 
begin to talk. By moving a little nearer to the 
water Ella was able to hear what she said. She 
was preaching to the waves, and her text might 
well have been men were deceivers ever.” 

I know you,” she cried, in what proved to be 
her peroration, pointing to the on-coming waves. 

You are the oily, slimy, devils that crawl to a 
woman’s feet and tell her she is too young and too 
pretty to be content with life as she finds it. You 
say that she must have better clothes, better food, 
more pleasure. Life owes these things to her, 
and you — you — arc going to help life to pay its 
debts. You crawl especially round the young 
married women whose husbands are absent or — 
ox — missing. Cowards 1 Liars ! Repent while 
there is time. Become men. Or at least leave 
poor lonely women to suffer their loneliness — alone.” 

Next day she came again. She passed close 
to the place where Ella sat. As she passed, Ella 
thought that she felt the pungent odour of alcohol. 
The strange performance was repeated on the rock 
pulpit. 

This time the sea was rough and thc' waves 
dashed themselves against the rocks at the girl’s 
feet. The wind threw her hair across her face 
and tossed her words across the bay. Ella was 
able to hear only isolated words and disjointed 
phrases. But the subject of her address apparently 
was similar. The waves had become men of bolder 
methods, villains who attempted to storm the 
citadel of a lonely woman’s soul by breezy, bolster- 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


S6 

ous methods. The call to repentance, the appeal 
to manhood, were the same. And in the same way, 
when she had finished, she hurried away, looking 
neither to the right hand nor the left. 

A third time she came. But now her movements 
were inert, languid, almost lifeless. She dragged 
weary feet over the rough rocks. The waves 
sparkled in the sunshine and played innocently 
round her pulpit. But she had no sermon for 
them. She sat for an hour, her hands clasped 
round her knees, her eyes fixed on the far horizon. 
Then she rose wearily and with difficulty. She 
slunk away like a whipped dog. 

Ella would have given a good deal to know the 
girPs history. As yet she knew no one in Midling- 
ton. She might have asked the gardener if he 
knew anything about her, but she shrank from 
mentioning her to him. She felt instinctively that 
there was something about the girl that such as he 
would probably be incapable of understanding. 
She therefore held her peace and awaited fate’s 
development. 

Although Jack Challenor had professed a deep 
and a bitter hatred of Midlington, and although he 
had done his utmost to prevent Ella and her 
mother from going to such a benighted place, like a 
true and loyal friend he came to see them as soon 
as they were settled in the vicarage. His first 
visit was apparently more or less of an accident. 
He had been out in the evening to test the first of 
the cars which he was manufacturing ; the car had 
gone so sweetly that he had allpwed it to run on a$ 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


57 

far as Midlington. That was why he arrived after 
dark and could remain only a few minutes. 

Next time, however, he came earlier and was able 
to make a more prolonged stay. Both Ella and her 
mother were unfeignedly glad to see him. Nearly 
three weeks had passed since their arrival and no 
one had called. Jack, as he stuffed his motor- 
goggles in his pocket and took off his coat, was 
quite pleased with his welcome. 

I am sure Mr. Challenor would like to see the 
town and the harbour,’’ Mrs Danesford remarked 
after an early tea. 

Ella jumped up at once. 

Not at all,” Jack replied, growing rather red 
in the face. I hate towns and harbours. I 
mean that these little places are all alike. When 
you have seen one you have seen them all. Besides 
you meet everybody in the town if you happen to 
go out.” 

Nonsense!” said Ella. I believe everybody 
in Midlington goes to sleep in the afternoon. The 
harbour is really very picturesque.” 

But Jack had no love for the picturesque. He 
preferred to remain where he was. However, he 
accepted Ella’s invitation to inspect the vicarage 
grounds. He could not do less after Mrs Danes- 
ford’s admission that she had missed her after- 
luncheon sleep and a rest on the chesterfield would 
do her good. 

The grounds of Midlington Vicarage were fairly 
extensive. A broad shrubbery, with winding paths 
and a summer-house, lined the road. Between the 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


S8 

shrubbery and the front of the house was a lawn 
with flower beds. A tennis-court occupied the 
space between an orchard and the south side of the 
house. At the back there was a large walled-in 
kitchen garden. 

Jack Challenor hurried Ella across the lawn into 
the shrubbery. Even here he did not appear to be 
quite at ease, although he cast a longing eye at the 
summer-house. When he arrived at the garden at 
the back and had closed the door behind him he 
gave a sigh of relief. 

‘‘Ah, this is the place I like best,” he said in reply 
to Ella’s questioning look. 

“ You like cabbage-s better than violas,” she 
replied, more than a little puzzled. 

“They are so much more useful,” he commented, 
running his eye round the high wall. 

“ But there is no place to sit down,” said Ella, 
“ unless we go into the green house and sit on a 
flower-pot or something.” 

“ Yes, let’s.” 

“ I am not sure whether we dare. Johnston is 
very jealous of his greenhouse and just at present it 
is chock full of little boxes containing little specks 
of green that are infinitely precious to Johnston.” 

“ Never mind Johnston. I’ll soon find some- 
thing to sit on.” 

He did. He found part of an old staging which 
he placed on a, couple of large flower-pots turned 
upside down. 

“ This is very jolly,” he remarked, lighting a 
cigarette, 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


59 

Very,” Ella replied hospitably. “ Still, it’s very 
nice outside.” 

He took no notice of her remark. He was very 
busy examining some little spots of vegetation grow- 
ing in a box covered with a sheet of glass. 

‘‘ It was awfully good of you,” Ella resumed, 
feeling her position as hostess, “ to help me to get 
Mother away from Darchester. Don’t you think 
she is better ? ” 

‘‘ I don’t see much improvement,” he replied. 
‘‘ And I still think the place is not suitable. I have 
heard of a very nice house near Caister — Yarmouth 
way you know — that could be had for a mere ” 

‘‘ But we can’t possibly leave here,” Ella cried. 

Why not ? ” 

“ I have signed a great big agreement affai r- ” 

‘‘ We could soon get out of that.” 

‘‘ How ? ” 

“ By paying the year’s rent and ” 

“ Don’t be absurd,” cried Ella. “ Do you think 
that after all my trouble and expense I am going 
to ” 

‘‘ If you would only let me square up with Mrs 
What’s-her-name I should ” 

Ella rose to her feet suddenly. The staging was 
not too well arranged on the pots and Jack had 
some little difficulty in preserving his equilibrium 
when the counterpoise was removed. 

‘‘ I can’t make you out,” said Ella, coldly watch- 
ing his struggle. “ And yet I don’t think you are 
very clever.” 

I’m a perfect fool,” he said sadly, giving up the 


6o ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

struggle to keep his scat and standing up beside 
her. 

You are no fool,’’ Ella replied, veiling the 
sparkle in her eyes. “ You are an excellent man of 
business, as I well know, but when it comes to 
finesse you are far too naive. I am afraid you 
would make a poor detective.” 

“ I don’t want to be a detective. I never did. 
Even when I was at school I couldn’t read the 
tales that everybody else devoured during the 
scripture lesson.” 

‘‘ You preferred adventure stories ? ” 

Rather. I do still. I can’t bear books where 
every thought that passes through somebody’s 
brain is taken out and tested and examined. I 
suppose they’re all right for people who like that 
kind of thing. To me it is fearful waste of time.” 

‘‘Yet psychology is wonderfully interesting and 
even practically useful.” 

“ I don’t believe a word of it,” Jack affirmed. 

“ I think I could prove it useful,” Ella said a little 
doubtfully. 

“ I’m sure you couldn’t.” 

“ Will you let me try ? ” asked Ella. 

“ Blaze away,” he said almost contemptuously. 

“ I shall take one of the great emotions — fear.” 

“ Why the dickens should you take that ? ” he 
asked suspiciously. 

“ Merely because it is a great emotion,” Ella 
replied. 

“ Humph ! ” said Jack. “ I thought you meant 
something.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 6i 

Fear,” said Ella, somewhat academically, 

may be a natural and quite healthy resistance to a 
passing physical danger ; or it may be a morbid 
enslavement of the mind in anticipation of some 
remote and improbable contingency. That sounds 
very learned, I know. It is very likely an example 
of unconscious memory.” 

‘‘ Some contingencies are not so jolly remote,” he 
replied, looking round the garden wall. 

“ The second kind of fear is unreasonable,” 
Ella continued returning to her task. “ It can 
nearly always be banished by facing it squarely. 
And it can always be lessened by telling some one 
else about it.” 

Jack knit his brows. He glanced at Ella through 
the corner of his eye. Then he shrugged his 
shoulders. 

‘‘ I say,” he exclaimed, having obviously made 
up his mind, “ let’s go and see how the goose- 
berries are getting on.” 

Ella followed him out of the greenhouse. She 
had given him his chance. It was clear that he was 
afraid of something in Middlington. He refused 
to take her into his confidence. Very well ! The 
motherly instinct that had arisen in her soul was 
crushed. Henceforth she would leave him alone. 
She would certainly never give him another op- 
portunity. 

The gooseberries were duly appreciated. Jack 
thought that they would be ready for Whitsun- 
tide. The currant bushes, too, were doing their 
duty. And the rhubarb was simply wonderful. 


62 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

Ella listened to his rhapsodies with a scornful 
smile. 

“ It’s a jolly interesting garden,” he concluded. 

If I were you I should spend most of my time 
here.” 

“ Probably you would,” Ella replied with cur- 
ling lip. “ But certainly I shall not. I didn’t 
come to Midlington to shut myself up in a cabbage 
patch.” 

‘‘ What did you come for ? ” he demanded. 

“ Chiefly for the sake of mother’s health,” she 
plied. “ But also to meet people.” 

“ People 1 What do you want with people ? ” 
To know them. To make friends. To enjoy 
intercourse with human beings. To freshen my 
mind by ” 

Bosh ! There are no people who could freshen 
your mind in Midlington.” 

“ Thank you,” said Ella coldly. But I ven- 
ture to think you are wrong. I shall join the tennis 
club as soon as the season begins. I shall meet 
there a soldier — a major — who has the pluck to 
play tennis in spite of a wound in his leg. I think 
it’s splendid of him.” 

“ He does it only to gain sympathy,” growled 
Jack. 

‘‘ Then there’s a novelist ” 

What good is he ? ” 

He’ll brighten my intellect by ” 

My eye ! I shouldn’t think that it takes much 
intellect to write novels .” 

“ Have you ever tried ? ” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 65 

Not likely. I have never any difficulty in 
finding some work to do.” 

Consequently you know nothing about it,” 
said Ella in a superior tone. 

‘‘ Yes, I do,” he declared. I know dozens of 
people who have written novels. They are as 
plentiful as curates. I wouldn’t give sixpence a 
dozen for them.” 

“ Do you mean for novels, novelists, or curates? ” 

‘‘ Whatever you like,” Jack replied. 

After the novelist there’s the doctor,” Ella 
resumed after a supercilious glance at Jack. “ He 
is young, ardent and unmarried. Perhaps you will 
say that he has no intellect either. But I needn’t 
waste my time on an enumeration of the male 
population of Midlington. There are heaps of 
interesting men. I am looking forward to a very 
exciting time.” 

I hope you’ll get it,” Jack growled. 

Thank you. I think I shall.” 

Are the women as exciting as the men ? ” he 
asked after a short pause. 

Naturally I do not ” she began. Then 

her voice lost its bantering tone as she interrupted 
herself. “ There is one poor creature in whom I 
am intensely interested. I don’t know her name 
and I have never spoken to her. I have seen her 
on the rocks at my little cove. Her clothes are 
well cut, but she puts them on anyhow. Her 
hair flies round her face. Her boots are not pro- 
perly laced. And what do you think she was 
doing ? ” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


64 

Jack had become rather pale but he growled : 

‘‘ How should I know what she was doing ? ” 

She was preaching to the waves.” 

Good Lord ! But I am not surprised.” 

What do you mean ? Do you ” 

‘‘ I mean that — that some women are so deuced 
fond of talking that they will talk even to the sea. 
Besides, quite a lot of women want to be preachers 
in the Church, like Maud Thingumajig, and possibly 
this on-e was practising. I once knew a parson 
who practised on his cabbages.” 

“ She’s not that kind of woman,” Ella replied. 

“ What kind is she then ? ” he demanded. 

‘‘ I think she has suffered a great deal.” 

We all have,” he growled apathetically. 

‘‘ Her suffering, I think, has affected her 
brain.” 

‘‘ All the more reason why you should keep away 
from her. People like that are frightfully danger- 
ous, you know.” 

‘‘ I’m not a bit afraid,” said Ella calmly. I 
should like to help her if I could.” 

‘‘ But you couldn’t,” he exclaimed. ‘‘ Nobody 
could. Ever so many have tried — at least surely 
all her relations must have tried. Naturally. They 
would feel obliged to do everything possible to 
prevent her from making a fool of herself.” 

‘‘ I believe that nobody has tried,” Ella affirmed 
dogmatically. 

Nonsense. Of course they have. Why I 
myself — I couldn’t imagine such a thing.” 

‘‘ Anyhow, I am going to try, and try hard.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 65 

You will do no such thing,’’ he exclaimed. 
“ I won’t permit it.” 

Indeed. Must I ask your permission before I 
attempt to help a sufferer ? Please remember that 
I am no longer in your employment.” 

I beg your pardon. I had forgotten. But I 
do think you would be an awful ass to begin that 
game.” 

“ Then I will be an awful ass,” Ella announced 
with considerable contempt for all who refused 
such a role. 

Shortly afterwards they went indoors. Jack 
was obliged to talk to Mrs Danesford during the 
remainder of his visit. Ella was deeply hurt at his 
want of heart and replied to his questions only in 
monosyllables. 


CHAPTER V 


A FEW days after Jack Challenor’s visit, 
Ella sat in her selected cranny in the rocks 
and looked out over the sea with melan- 
choly eyes. She was miserably lonely. She had 
walked through the town and had spoken to every 
child that had given her an opportunity. She had 
distributed many pennies. She had patted many 
tousled heads. She had pinched some chubby 
cheeks. She had gone on to the bay where she 
made the tragic discovery that it was losing its 
appeal. Midlington, as far as she was concerned, 
was a huge disappointment. 

“ This is my favourite bit too.” 

Ella glanced up in surprise. A young man, in a 
Norfolk suit, had sat down quite near her. He 
smiled as she looked into his eyes. She knew that 
he was Sydney Raynham, the novelist, but she 
was very doubtful about replying to his observa- 
tion. She knew that her mother would be terribly 
shocked if she knew that her daughter had talked 
to a man without the formality of an introduction. 

Don’t worry about it,” the man advised, 
obviously amused at Ella’s knitted brows. ‘‘ I 
don’t see why I should wait until my sister chooses 
to swoop down on me and carry me off to call at 
66 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 67 

the vicarage. I want to talk to you here and 
now. And perhaps it would do you no harm 
to talk to me. If it does you needn’t do it 
again.” 

“It would do me a power of good,” Ella ex- 
claimed, using one of her father’s phrases, “ I 
am tired of my own thoughts.” 

“ Good. Now we can get on. You have seen 
Mrs Henmore so perhaps you know that my name 
is Raynham, that I live at the Bungalow, and 
that I am by trade a novelist.” 

Ella admitted that the information was not new 
to her. She also explained her own solitary rambles 
by the fact that her mother, even when quite strong, 
would never go for a walk unless there was at 
least a tea-party at the end of it. 

“ My sister is a little bit like that,” Sydney 
Raynham added. “ But she prefers a meeting of 
the Women’s Political and Social Union or the 
Workers’ Educational Association or some other 
organization. She and Dr Austin are great believers 
in work. They think I’m a real slacker. 

“ But you’re not, are you ? ” cried Ella. 

“ I don’t know. I have been through the war 
anyhow.” 

“ Of course,” Ella replied with a look which he 
felt to be a compliment to his manhood. “ But 
have you not settled down to work again ? ” 

“ In one respect I resemble the charming author 
of Dreamthorp^ ‘ Procrastination is a thief sure of 
sanctuary in my heart.’ Still I’m learning my 
trade.” 


68 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

“ But you said, a moment ago, that you are a 
novelist.’’ 

Better qualify it by the adjective embryonic. 
There is an old saying that it is the duty of every 
man to beget a son, to plant a tree, and to write a 
book. My book is not yet written.” 

I thought you had several books to your credit. 
I think that is the phrase.” 

Prentice work only. I have written two or 
three historical novels as exercise in verve. I have 
written two humorous tales, hoping that I may, 
when I begin to write, escape pretentious dullness. 
Some day I may write something worthy of the 
high name of a book. And, of course, I may not. 
But I am talking too much about myself. I wish 
you would ” 

‘‘ No, no,” Ella interrupted. “ I want you to 
talk about yourself. What kind of a book do you 
hope to write ? ” 

That, to use a cliche that I must not use when 
I begin to write, is on the lap of the gods. And 
yet I know nothing positive. But I have collected 
a few negatives. I shall not be a preacher or a 
saviour ; there are already too many. I shall not, 
please God, try to prove something or to purvey 
any social nostrums ; an artist, as Tchehov points 
out, states a problem correctly ; he does not neces- 
sarily solve it. And I certainly shall not try to 
play the sedulous ape — another cliche — to the 
psychological Paul Prys of yesterday and to- 
day.” 

‘‘ I argued with a friend a day or two ago,” said 


ELLA KEEPS PIOUSE 69 

Ella reminisceutly, “ that psychology is both inter- 
esting and useful.” 

“ Had I been present, I should have been on 
your side. The worst thing about our psycholog- 
ical novelists is that their essays deal so frequently 
with morbid psychology. Their characters are 
cases. And cases, however, interesting and im- 
portant to scientists, will never interest humanity. 
At least, for humanity’s sake, I hope they won’t.” 

‘‘ Shall you, do you think, be a realist ? ” asked 
Ella, who had read some criticism. 

I hope so. But the Sst ’ I envy far more, let 
me whisper it only, is the artist.” 

‘‘ I shall not like you if you are a realist,” Ella 
announced. 

Don’t say that,” he pleaded. I want you to 
like me.” 

“ I mean I shan’t like your books,” Ella ex- 
plained with a mere suspicion of a blush. 

But you must,” he asserted. “You must like 
both me and my books. Let me plead for the 
unborn first. That blessed word Realism in litera- 
ture, like Catholicism in religion, has been robbed 
of many of its most valuable possessions. No one 
will be foolish enough to deny that madmen, drabs, 
and neuropaths are real ; no one questions the 
existence of a subterranean world with its popula- 
tion of scoundrels, shady ladies, social degenerates 
half-crazy idealists, and all the astonishing rest. 
Everybody has met real drunkards and real liber- 
tines. But another world and another set of 
characters are just as real. It is ” 


70 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


They are far more so,” Ella interrupted. ‘‘ This 
sunshine is much more real — you may object to 
that, but you know what I mean — than the arti- 
ficial light of a cabaret or a cellar. And I, with 
all my wrong ideas concerning life, am just as 
real as the women who have questionable adven- 
tures.” 

‘‘ And the real you has introduced another 
blessed word that is used to-day in as great a variety 
of sense as ‘ real.’ I mean the word ‘ life.’ Why 
did you do it ? Are you artfully trying to confuse 
a poor amateur philosopher who has been working 
hard to clarify his muddy conceptions ? I know 
that I am real and that my states of mind are 
real. I know that I enjoy life — ^whatever life is. 
But if you join up the two things and talk about 
real life I shall presently be lost in a fog.” 

“ I should think everybody gets lost, more or 
less. The subject is too big.” 

But isn’t it fascinating ? ” he asked with en- 
kindled eyes. “ Like a big mountain or a big 
river ? Think of its infinite variety, its abundance, 
its insurgency. Think of its development, its 
intricacy, its subtlety. Think of its progress, its 
mentality, and its victory. And then the drama 
of it all ! Yes, it is something to dream about, 
something to write about.” 

And its motives ? ” said Ella after a swift 
introspective glance. 

“ They are simple enough,” he asserted with a 
cock-sureness that almost annoyed Ella. 

‘‘ Surely you are wrong,” she faltered. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


71 

“ They can be reduced to two,” he said, to 
Ella’s great surprise. 

Two ! ” she echoed. What are they ? ” 

“ Hunger and love.” 

Ella thought this over for a minute or two. She 
realized quite clearly that Sydney Raynham could 
and would find much to say in defence of his classi- 
fication. But, in her present mood, that was not 
what she wanted. The discussion had become too 
abstract. It might become too personal. It might 
even become embarrassing. She decided to drop 
it, at all events for the present. On some future 
occasion she would ask him, perhaps, to prove that 
hunger and love are sufficient motives to explain 
modern life. 

“ How did you come to be a novelist ? ” she 
asked almost as inconsequently as Mrs Henmore 
herself. 

‘‘ I am rather disappointed,” he replied, that 
you have decided to switch off. On the other hand, 
seeing that we are going to be friends, I should like 
to tell you a little about myself.” 

Ella smiled in spite of herself. This young man, 
who assumed so much and did it so readily, was a 
great contrast to poor Jack Challenor who seemed 
afraid to assume even yet that he was anything 
more than an acquaintance. 

To begin with, I have had no education,” 
Raynham continued, looking as though he appre- 
ciated Ella’s smile. I was taught at a prepara- 
tory school, run by two kind spinsters, how to read, 
write and do extremely elementary arithmetic. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


72 

Then I was sent to a kind of public school wdiosc 
efficiency was guaranteed by its theological colour. 
At about fifteen I was well-grown but ignorant as a 
foal, as a Derbyshire man would say. Religious 
emotion, as no doubt you know, is one of the com- 
mon phenomena of adolescence. I caught religion, 
although I escaped scarlet fever and other physical 
infections, and determined to become a missionary. 
I saw myself leading the people who sit in darkness 
into the light in myriads. I was full of enthusiasm 
and announced my purpose without misgiving in a 
long and ardent letter to my father.” 

He did not approve,” said Ella with a smile. 

He told me, in a curt, business-like letter, not 
to be a silly ass and to get on with my work. He 
also advised me to consult a veterinary surgeon.” 

Good gracious ! What for ? ” 

‘‘ I had mentioned several times that my heart 
was full. Unluckily I had consistently spelt it 
without an ‘ e.’ For a year I stuck to my guns 
and really learned something about Livingston 
and Hannington and a few other great men whom I 
intended to emulate. Then something happened. 
On a certain Whit Sunday I was home from school 
and went to church with my father. We had had 
a particularly acrimonious discussion that morning 
and he looked very glum as he sat in his corner of 
the pew. The vicar had been taken ill and the 
curate was obliged to preach. The poor chap was 
very nervous because he had to appeal for the 
Curate’s Fund. However, just before the end, he 
overcame his nervousness and let himself go. He 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


73 

said that if the money spent on his education for 
Holy Orders had been invested he would have had 
as large an income without the indignity of appeal- 
ing for his salary.” 

Is that true ? ” Ella asked. 

“ I have no reason to doubt it. I don’t know 
what effect it had on the rest of the congregation 
but I distinctly heard my father mutter ‘ That’s 
an idea.’ ” 

“ What did he mean ? ” 

‘‘ I wondered what he meant. But I soon knew. 
On the evening of the bank holiday he called me 
into his den. He asked me whether I still persisted 
in my opposition to his will. I replied that I still 
intended to become a missionary. Whereupon he 
informed me that on the following day he would 
take the hint given by the curate : he would, 
through his solicitor, invest enough money to bring 
me an income of £ 200 , which he believed to be 
about the clerical average. I could do whatever 
the dickens I liked with it ; and I could, if I pleased, 
go to Africa or to the devil. At all events he 
washed his hands of me.” 

‘‘ And did you ” 

‘‘ I was on my way to London, with the solicitor’s 
address in my pocket, intending to put myself under 
the tutelage of one of the missionary societies, 
when I experienced a strange revulsion of feeling. 
Now that my father had turned me out of his 
house I would not be a missionary and I would not 
touch a penny of his money.” 

“ Did you go back to him ? ” Ella asked. 

F 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


74 

Not much. I was as stubborn as a mule. I 
tried to get a job in an office or somewhere. Of 
course I failed. There was nothing I could do. I 
gravitated to the docks. I was big, you see, and 
looked older than my years, especially when my 
face was not over clean. Anyhow I found work 
of a sort. Afterwards I visited Newcastle-on-Tyne, 
Glasgow, and Belfast.” 

You visited ” 

I worked in the ship-yards in those interesting 
places and was lucky, or unlucky, enough to see a 
religious riot in the district between the Falls Road 
and the Shanklin Road in Belfast. Then I drifted 
to Canada and learned the meaning of a lumber- 
camp as well as a few other things. My first book 
was an anaemic imitation of Sir Gilbert Parker’s 
work. I went to France with the Canadians.” 

And your father ? ” 

He was dead when I found time to look him 
up. I discovered my sister. We joined forces — 
and there you are ! What do you think of that 
for the making of a novelist ? ” 

I don’t know. Your vocabulary ” 

Like Pat Magill, the ex-navvy, I read heaps 
of stuff. I am still trying to digest some of it. 
That’s why my sister and the doctor think I am 
lazy.” 

“ I suppose you go to strikes because you under- 
stand the workers ? ” 

‘‘ I don’t claim to understand them. But I think 
they are jolly interesting chaps and well worthv 
of study.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


75 

I don’t like the agitators,” said Ella with the 
solemnity of youth. But most of the men are 
splendid.” 

‘‘ You know something about them ? ” 

“ I saw a good deal of them during the war,” 
replied Ella who hated to boast of what she had 
done. 

Good. We will discuss industrial problems 
often. I am going to see you frequently. 

By the way,” said Ella, again veering off, 

do you know anything about a girl wLo comes 
here sometimes ? I mean to these rocks.” 

The girl who preaches to the waves ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Perhaps you would be shocked if I told you 
the little I know.” 

‘‘ I should not,” Ella said with decision. 

“ She comes out only when she has been drinking. 
At other times, except to do her shopping, she 
remains in her cottage in Sandy Lane. She speaks 
to nobody, and nobody speaks to her.” 

What drives her to drink ? ” Ella asked. 

“ I don’t know. Possibly an appetite for ” 

“ There is something,” Ella interrupted. Has 
anyone tried to help her ? ” 

The vicar has attempted to call on her, but 
she always refuses to admit him.” 

“ Has any woman ” 

“ Only one, as far as I know. She is secretary 
to some Temperance Association or another. She 
reported the woman as incorrigible.” 

“ It is a lie,” said Ella with considerable feeling. 


76 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

I shouldn’t be surprised. But do you speak 
from knowledge or intuition ? ” 

‘‘ I have seen the poor thing. She has suffered. 
I want to help her.” 

“ I should think if anyone could help her it 
would be you.” 

‘‘ Why do you say that ? ” 

“ Because — well, the good fairies at your birth 
did not leave out the gift of compassion. At the 
same time, if I might venture to advise you, as a 
friend, I should tell you to keep an eye on that most 
excellent gift.” 

“ Do you think compassion a weakness that one 
ought to try to get rid of ? ” Ella asked with some 
indignation. 

“ The Stoics did, Kant did, and so did a good 
many of Kant’s fellow-countrymen,” he replied 
slyly. 

‘‘ But do you ? ” Ella asked bluntly. 

I don’t.” 

“ What do vou mean, then, by keeping an eye 
on it ? ” 

“ In your case compassion is not a mere senti- 
ment. It will lead you to active interposition on 
behalf of those in distress.” 

‘‘ So it ought,” Ella exclaimed. 

‘‘ I agree. But it may lead you beyond your 
strength. It may bring unhappiness ” 

“ It is time for me to go home,” Ella interrupted. 

This young man, like the sons of Levi, took too 
much on him, 


CHAPTER VI 


A n ingenious Irish priest, puzzled to define 
a miracle, asked his inquirer to walk on 
in front of him. Father O’Something 
kicked him soundly and asked if the seeker after a 
definition had felt the kick. When Padraic ad- 
mitted that he had, the triumphant priest 
announced that it would have been a miracle if 
he had not. A less ingenious priest, say an Angli- 
can, might, when pressed by some anxious inquirer, 
reply in silvery tone that it would be a miracle 
if gossip were true. 

Very few people can quote correctly ; even 
Shelley quotes Milton’s well misquoted line in its 
errant form To-morrow to fresh fields and 
pastures new.” Scarcely anyone can describe an 
event precisely as it occurred ; skilled reporters on 
the staff of the Daily Mail do not say the same 
things as equally skilled men on the staff of the 
Daily Chronicle ; even policemen have been known 
to disagree. And no one can repeat information 
with precise exactitude ; it is said that teachers, 
who are trained to do this, are sometimes found out 
by their pupils. Every one knows, therefore, that 
gossip, even when it is not the work of amateurs, 
is unreliable ; yet every one believes gossip, 

77 


78 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

especially when it squares with his-— or her — 
wishes. 

A clergyman or a doctor sometimes knows, 
because he is told, what people are saying about 
him. A lawyer never knows, because everybody 
is afraid to tell him. Other people usually go 
about their business in a state of ignorance that, 
for once, is really blissful. 

Neither Ella nor her mother knew what was 
going the round of the tea-tables and seAving- 
meetings of Midlington. Mrs Danesford^s husband 
had been an eminent surgeon, so eminent indeed 
that he had received £^oo for a single operation. 
He had, on a certain occasion, saved the life of a well- 
known society lady and had even removed a cyst 
or something from the person of a member of a 
Royal House on the Continent ; in addition to 
money he had received, from these grateful ladies, 
articles of personal adornment in recognition of 
his skill. He had added to his large fees by “ marry- 
ing money.’’ Subsequently he had died in harness, 
leaving behind him a large fortune. 

Ella was a great heiress. Like many heiresses, 
in fiction and in other places, she was rather stuck 
up. She had been considerably spoilt by the gay 
life of London, Nice and Cairo. Although she was 
very young, she would most certainly be included 
in the next list of O.B.E.’s because she had on 
several occasions presided over a committee which 
provided white heather — such a pretty idea ” — 
for troops going overseas. She would probably 
remain only a short time in Midlington because 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


79 

there was no opportunity for her to make the sort 
of sensation she was accustomed to make in places 
like Bath and Leamington. 

Mrs Higginbotham called at last and approved 
of the way Ella had rearranged the furniture ; she 
was quite sure that the two ladies would enjoy the 
life of Midlington, especially in the summer when 
entertaining was easier and cheaper ; of course 
Midlington was not London or Paris or even Scar- 
borough, but Miss Ormond had once, before the 
war, spent a fortnight in Switzerland and was very 
glad to come back to her native town. It was 
quite true that Mrs Henmore, the vicar’s wife, did 
not think much of Midlington ; but, on the other 
hand, Midlington did not think much of Mrs 
Henmore. 

When Mrs Higginbotham had done the work of 
an ice-breaker, other vessels soon followed into the 
now open port. For the next w'eek or ten days 
Mrs Danesford was as busy as any harbour master, 
and displayed all the tact and good-fellowship of 
that useful official. She saw that each one of the 
various craft had a comfortable berth and she kept 
a hospitable eye upon the task of provisioning all 
and sundry. 

Mrs Danesford lived in a state of ecstasy. The 
years that the locusts had eaten were forgotten. 
She was back once more in the good old times 
when friends came in to tea. The rattle of china, 
the hum of conversation, the excitement of coming 
and going, had lost nothing of their former charm. 
She was happy. She took all her visitors to her heart. 


So 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


Ella did not. The visitors were middle-aged or 
more than middle-aged. Not that Ella objected to 
them on that score. But they were stupid far 
beyond the necessity of their years. Even the 
youngest of them were, like the books Sydney 
Raynham had adumbrated, pretentiously dull. 
To them life was obviously all of one colour. And 
that colour was grey. They looked at Ella, as 
they would have looked at an armadillo if it had 
strayed into the vicarage drawing-room, with a 
mixture of amazement and disapproval when she 
said or did anything that suggested gaiety. Ella 
began to understand why no young people re- 
mained in Midlington. She doubted whether even 
dancing in the schoolroom would have kept them. 
There are undoubtedly times when grey is the 
only wear. There are days when the brightness 
of nature is toned down to one sombre hue. There 
are experiences during which the mind of man 
moves in an atmosphere of unrelieved gloom. But 
such times pass. Life is not all sombre, the day is 
not all twilight, and music is not a succession of 
nocturnes. Ella was not unappreciative of the 
twilight , sometimes she loved a nocturne ; but 
sometimes, often rather, she craved the high blaze 
of noon or the allegro of the sonata. 

One visitor, the last of the series, attracted Ella. 
This was Lady Balbriggan, who lived half a dozen 
miles away and who had once been a member of 
the tennis club. She brought with her a son whose 
name was Robert. 

I suppose you have found out,’’ she said as soon 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE . 8i 

as she had finished her tea, “ that this is a damn 
rotten place to live in.’’ 

No, no,” protested Mrs Danesford. I love 
it.” 

‘‘ You — what ? ” cried the lady, attempting to 
sit up but failing in the attempt and falling back 
in her easy-chair. 

“ I love it,” Mrs Danesford repeated, although 
not in the strong accent of conviction that had 
marked her previous statement. 

My Lord ! ” said Lady Balbriggan. “ Where 
did you live before ? ” 

For some years in Darchester,” Mrs Danesford 
replied. 

‘‘ But even there you have a theatre and some 
people who don’t look down their noses if you 
happen to use a bit of slang or smoke a cigar- 
ette.” 

We lived very quietly,” Mrs Danesford ex- 
plained. 

“ Um. This place will suit you all right. My 
old man is in London trying to find a job that will 
enable us to clear out and do some living before 
we die. We have sold our land, and my Aunt 
Jemima has pegged out, and still our income 
doesn’t do more than cover our expenses. I 
suppose you have a car ? ” 

We cannot afford a car,” said Ella, speaking 
for the first time. 

Cannot afford,” repeated Lady Balbriggan. 
‘‘ I thought you were as rich as profiteers. I’m 
sure I was told so.” 


82 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


‘‘ The people here won’t listen,” said Ella, “ when 
wc try to explain that wc ” 

“ That’s Mrs Henmorc,” interrupted Lady Bal- 
briggan. 

She’s priceless,” added her son, looking up from 
a close study of his boots. 

‘‘ Anyhow we are quite poor,” Ella affirmed 
decidedly. She had received her bills for tlie first 
month and had arrived at this conclusion. 

‘‘ It’s just as well to know that,” commented 
Lady Balbriggan with a fleeting glance at her son. 

‘‘ Shall we see you sometimes at the tennis 
club ? ” Mrs Danesford asked as an unwonted 
silence descended on the drawing-room. 

‘‘ Not much. I’m not going to pay two guineas, 
or whatever it is, to come and hear Major Shandon 
swear at balls he cannot hit. It would be different 
if he had been at the last war and learned the new 
words. But he wasn’t. He knows only the old 
things that everybody knows. He actually asked 
me one day the meaning of N.B.G.” 

He’s priceless,” said Robert. 

I’m very sorry ” Mrs Danesford began. 

‘‘ Don’t,” interrupted Lady Balbriggan, rising to 
go. “ If you had been as rich as people said, I 
should have considered it my duty to join the club 
so as to throw Bobbie at your daughter’s head. As 
it is. I’ll have to try elsewhere.” 

“ Isn’t she priceless ? ” Bobbie added, following 
in her wake. 

She passed out of their lives. Ella was sorry. 
She was the only resident visitor, so far, with the 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 83 

possible exception of Mrs Higginbotham, who 
appeared to be possessed of character. 

Ella was picking daffodils, one morning, close 
to the hedge that separated the vicarage grounds 
from those of a large villa on the next plot. She 
glanced occasionally at the house and wondered 
vaguely if the lady who occupied it had been 
amongst the visitors of the last week or so. Prob- 
ably she had been, although Ella remembered that 
Mrs Henmore had experienced some little difficulty 
in classifying her. As far as she remembered, the 
vicar’s wife had finally decided that she was a 
person. 

In a few minutes Ella saw a woman, probably a 
housekeeper, leave the house by a side door. She 
was decidedly erratic in her procedure. She moved 
a few steps quickly towards the place where Ella 
was at work, and then withdrew one or two steps 
with reluctance. In this way she gradually ap- 
proached the dividing hedge. When she came 
near, Ella saw that the expression on her face was 
that of a person in extreme pain. Ella thought 
she was ill and had no one in the house to assist 
her. She flew to a place where the hedge was low 
and thin. 

Is there anything I can do for you ? ” she 
asked anxiously, ready to break through the barrier 
between them. 

Yes, miss,” was the reply. I was wondering 
if I might ” 

Yes, yes,” cried Ella encouragingly as the 
woman hesitated. It was so foolish of her to go 


84 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


on suffering pain,- as she undoubtedly was, when 
some simple remedy might relieve her. 

I was wondering if I might dare to — to — to 
bid you good morning.” She finished her sentence 
hurriedly and looked anxiously into Ella’s eyes 
to see how the girl took her startling request. 

Good gracious ! ” cried Ella. Then she burst 
into a ringing peal of laughter. 

The woman looked hurt. 

“ Please forgive me,” pleaded Ella, recovering 
her seriousness. ‘‘ I really couldn’t help it. Why, 
I have been wishing, ever since I saw you leave 
the house, that you would come over and speak 
to me.” 

Were you now ? ” cried the woman, the look 
of pain disappearing and an expression of great joy 
taking its place. ‘‘ I call that real ’andsome of you. 
I do indeed. I aven’t spoke to a soul, barrin’ the 
servants, for weeks.” 

“ Are you not allowed to go out ? ” Ella asked 
indignantly. 

‘‘ It isn’t that. Tom says I can go out as much 
as I like and do just wot I please. But I’m ner- 
vous, that’s wot it is. I’m afraid of puttin’ my 
foot in it, you know. You see I’m not used to the 
kind of folks as live about ’ere. I come from 
Kettering, you know, and the folks there is dif- 
f’rent. Well, I mean, you get all kinds and if you 
don’t like some on ’em you can soon find others. 
That’s the best of a big place.” 

‘‘ Have you been here long ? ” Ella asked, still 
rather puzzled about the woman’s status. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


8S 

Too long,” was the reply. “ It seems years 
an’ years an’ donkey’s years. But I don’t believe 
it’s more’n about two. You see Tom, that’s my 
’usband, bought this ’ere ’ouse. He thought we’d 
like to live near the sea after Kett’ring. But he 
’atcs the place and so do 1. So he comes down 
nows and thens.” 

He lives in Kettering mostly ? ” 

“ Yes. He looks after the business there and 
leaves me to look after the furniture an’ things 
’ere. He has the best of it. But men always ’ave. 
If God ’ad been a woman, of course things would 
be diff’rent. Men always stand to one another.” 

But Midlington is really very beautiful,” Ella 
urged, knowing that the woman had no thought of 
irreverence. ‘‘ And the sea is simply glorious.” 

It’s nice enough,” the woman admitted, al- 
though grudgingly. But what’s the good of a 
nice place if the people spoil it ? Scenery’s all very 
well by itself, but when people come in they ’elp 
it or ’inder it. ’Ere they ’inder it. I suppose God 
meant even nasty, disagreeable people to be more 
than places. I’m sure the women ’ere, when I used 
to go to church, looked at me as if I was a stray cat 
come to steal the cream. Not that there’s much 
cream to be got from the milk they sell ’ere. And 
such a price as it is too ! I didn’t mean no ’arm by 
coming to live in their blessed town. Eh ! I do 
like talkin’ over a ’edge. It’s just like old times 
when Mrs Ballard and me ’ad a chat nearly every 
morning when we lived in ’Awthorne Road, Them 
was the times ! ” 


86 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


Ella expressed her sympatliy and vowed that she 
too liked to talk over a hedge. She also, in her 
innocency, ventured an opinion that sufficient 
money was a decided aid to happiness. 

“ My trouble,” said Mrs Goosey, referring to 
money, ‘‘ is to. know wot to do with it. I don’t 
know wot to buy and when I do buy it I don’t know 
how to use it. One day I bought an electric cleaner 
as was supposed to suck all the dust up without 
any labour. But none of us could make it work 
till Tom came over for the week end and said as 
it needed the electric light to make it go. And of 
course there’s only gas in Midlington. Tom laughed 
at me and said I might ha’ knowed better, but I told 
’im straight that I’d got an electric ’air curler as 
needed no light to curl my ’air. What’s the good 
of a cleaner as will only work by electric light ? 
I like to get my cleanin’ done in the morning, I do.” 

“ Advertisements are sometimes misleading,” 
Ella remarked gravely. 

Tom wasn’t a bit cross about it,” Mrs Goosey 
continued. Give the devil ’is due, say I, and I 
must admit that Tom’s seldom cross with me. 
The only thing that pegs ’im is that I don’t spend 
enough.” 

“ Good gracious 1 ” exclaimed Ella, remembering 
her housekeeping accounts. 

He says I oughter dress niyself grander and 
buy furs and things the same as Mrs Leek and Mrs 
Bunting. None of ’em are better than us and every 
one of ’em started in the same way as we did. But 
I say that some take to furs and motors easier than 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 87 

others. Not but wot I bought the furs, Fd do 
anything to please Tom, but as yet Fve only worn 
’em in my bedroom. I do ’ope "the moth won’t 
get in ’em this summer. Fve wrapped ’em up in 
newspapers and put ’em in linen bags. They say 
as moths ’ate newspapers. Well, I do myself. 
Pack o’ lies mostly, and the rest things nobody can 
understand.” 

Ella went in rather reluctantly to do her flower 
vases. She liked Mrs Goosey. Her English was 
decidedly peculiar, almost her only vowel sound was 

oi,” and she used wrisses and frosses for the plural 
of wrist and frost ; but she was human, and her 
mind was nearly as active as an Irishman’s. And 
it was certainly nothing to her disadvantage that 
when Ella made a pale little joke she laughed until 
she showed that her excellent teeth were the 
product of some dentist’s art. 

Next morning Ella was quite glad to see Mrs 
Goosey emei e from the house. This time there 
was no reluctance in her gait. In fact she trotted 
to the hedge as fast as her fat would permit her. 

“ There’s a ’ole in the ’edge,” she remarked, a 
little doubtfully, after affectionate greetings. It’s 
up there behind the bushes where nobody can sec 
it. Little Cyril ’Enmore made it with the kitchen 
chopper. I did like that boy. He was such com- 
pany. Tom said, at first, he was a little devil 
because he broke a few windows with his catapult 
and unscrewed all the bolts he came across, so that 
the toast-racks and beds and things fell to pieces 
when they were used. But when he got to know 


88 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


’im better he said he minded ’im of our own boy 
when he got to unscrewing everythink in the 
factory.” 

‘‘ He is quite an interesting boy,” Ella admitted. 

I was wondering- — think you — I mean 
the ’ole ain’t very big — still it’s too much to ask 
a lady.” 

You wish me to crawl through as Cyril did ? ” 
Ella asked, her eyes dancing. 

‘‘ It would certingly save a lot o’ time in goin’ 
round by the gates. Still maybe you would 
rather ” 

“ I’m sure I could get through,” Ella interrupted, 
to Mrs Goosey’s immense relief. 

Ella did get through, even without the help that 
Mrs Goosey was eager to give. The good lady’s face 
was beaming with happiness as she led Ella up to 
the house. 

There ! ” she exclaimed, ushering her visitor 
into the kitchen. The best room in the ’ouse. 
Clean as a new pin. I wish it was mine — but it 
ain’t. It’s Ada’s. She lets me ’ave it for about 
twenty minutes every morning about this time.” 

Ella expressed her appreciation of the kitchen 
and lamented the selfishness of cooks. 

You’ll ’ave a snack of bread and cheese ? ” 
Mrs Goosey said anxiously, with a glance at a cloth 
folded across the end of the table. ‘‘ That’s wot 
Ada lets me ’ave the kitchen for. I always ’ave 
liked a snack of bread and cheese and a bottle o’ 
stout at about eleven in the mornings. I used 
to like it best on a newspaper ; but Ada makes me 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 89 

’ave a cloth. She says no lady could eat off the 
Daily Mail, Reelly it’s my best meal of the day. 
I can’t abide dinner, as they call it, at night. It 
don’t seem natural to call your supper your dinner. 
And then the little picks they give you 1 When I 
’ave soup I like a basinful ; when I ’ave fish I 
like enough to make a meal on ; but I can’t get 
used to ha’p’orths of everythink mixed up. I 
don’t think it’s good for the stummick. Just as 
it’s getting used to soup you send down a bit o’ 
fish, and when it’s ready for more fish down comes 
chicken or something. It stands to sense that the 
stummick’s put out by that kind o’ work. Choppin’ 
and changin’ would never ’ave got my work done 
when I lived in ’Awthorn Road.” 

Ella enjoyed her bread and cheese, although she 
declined the stout. But she enjoyed still more 
Mrs Goosey’s conversation. Now that the feeling 
of restraint was removed, Mrs Goosey talked more 
at her ease and expressed her own opinions more 
freely. 

‘‘ We’d better go now,” said Mrs Goosey after 
a glance at the clock. Ada’ll be down in a 
minute and — By Jing ! here she comes.” 

Mrs Goosey seized Ella by the arm and dragged 
her all the way to the drawing-room. 

‘‘ I don’t like it,” said Mrs Goosey, sitting down 
on a chesterfield and closing her eyes to shut out the 
obnoxious vision. “ Wot’s more, I never will. 
There’s that beautiful kitchen with the fire goin’ 
and the brass pans a-shining on the mantelpiece, 
and everythink as fresh and clean as ’ands can 

Q 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


90 

make it, and Fve got to come and sit ’ere. A 
shaiiie I calls it.” 

But this is a very pretty room,” Ella remon- 
strated, with a fair amount of truth. 

Mrs Goosey shook her head. 

“ It’s clean,” she said, “ and the view through 
the window is nice. But when it comes to reel 
comfort and all the rest of it, give me the kitchen 
every time. Maybe it’s because I was so long used 
to kitchens.” 

Ella made some non-committal remark. 

I sometimes wish our Tom had not got on so 
well,” Mrs Goosey continued. Still, as ’e says 
’imself, it wasn’t ’is fault. He couldn’t ’elp it.” 

‘‘ One doesn’t often hear men talk like that,” 
said Ella. 

“ It’s true enough, though. Even before the 
war he was gettin’ on. You see he started makin’ 
boots in wot oughter ’ave been the parlour. Then 
he got a little tin ’ouse in the back yard. Arter 
that he bought with ’is savings a nice little factory 
with machines and things in it. I hen came the 
war. Lord love a duck ! he couldn’t ’elp makin’ 
’caps of money then. It was thrown at you in 
the boot trade. All you ’ad to do was to pick 
it up. And our Tom was always one to get as 
much as his neighbours when things were given 
away.” 

No one could blame him for that,” commented 
Ella. 

‘‘ But he got more than a good many when he 
bought the chapel,” asserted Mrs Goosey. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


91 

“ Bought the chapel 1 ” echoed Ella, cojupletely 
puzzled. 

‘‘ Ay, he bought a chapel, ’e did. You see it 
belonged at one time to some sex or other that 
believed in ’elping, even with money, everybody 
as needed it. Of course they soon went broke, 
carryin’ on like that, and so Tom got the chapel 
cheap. He bought it before anybody ’ardly 
know’d it was for sale. It made a lovely factory, 
with its railings outside, and Tom said that the 
motter, cut in the big stone over the front door, 
was quite sootable.” 

‘‘ What was the motto ? ’’ Ella asked with 
reasonable curiosity. 

There was reelly two,^’ Mrs Goosey replied. 

I ’ope I can remember them but I never was any 
great shakes at Scripture.* One was about soles 
and the other about ’eels, and the ’eel was shorter 
than the sole. I remember that because the ’eel 
is shorter. L-I — Yes 1 I’ve got it. ‘ I will ’eel 
thee.’ That’s the first. The second was some- 
think about if you come to this ’ere factory you’ll 
get a sole that’li last longer than Simson’s. Them’s 
not the exack words.” 

Ella tried to recall various texts that might fit 
in with Mrs Goosey’s paraphrase. She was quite 
anxious to guess the correct passage. 

‘ Hear and your soul shall live,’ ” she suggested 
at last. 

‘‘ That’s it,” said Mrs Goosey, duly impressed. 
‘‘ My word ! you’re clever. You know your Bible. 
Tom says there’s a whole lot in the Bible about the 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


92 

boot trade. Wonderful, isn’t it ? And it made up 
ever so long ago too ; I dare say before there were 
more than about three or four factories in Ket- 
tering.” 

Ella saw Mrs Goosey almost every day, and the 
more she saw of her the better she liked her. There 
could be no doubt that the kind-hearted woman 
did Ella good ; the girl’s spirit was revived by inter- 
course with a woman so refreshingly natural. 

I do wish you would come and see mother,” 
Ella said, one day, to her friend. 

‘‘ I ’aven’t the pluck,” Mrs Goosey replied, a 
look of fear in her eyes. 

Mother is a dear,” Elia assured her. ‘‘ You 
would love her I’m sure.” 

“ I find it none too ’ard to love most people,” 
Mrs Goosey answered very quickly. “ That is if 
they’ll let me. But a good many finds it ’ard 
to put up with me. I can do with the young uns ; 
they don’t laugh at my mistakes and put on their 
glasses to look me over when I say somethink wrong. 
The papers ’ave been sayin’ lately that the young 
folks these days are selfish and fond of pleasure. 
’Aven’t young folks always been fond of pleasure ? 
And didn’t God make them a bit selfish because He 
wanted them to ’ave a good time before they ’ad 
too much on their shoulders ? I can put up with 
selfishness in the young uns, but I just ’ate it in 
folks as is gettin’ on. And I will say this about 
the young uns : they’re kinder than ever they were 
and tons kinder than them as is old enough to know 
better. They never laugh at my bad grammar, 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


93 

or whatever it is, and they never look at me as if I 
was some kind of an inseck. There’s you, as a 
blindman could see is a lady every inch — who 
could be kinder than you ? And there’s Mr Rayn- 
ham as writes books ; he talks to me by the hour, 
which is more than he does to Miss Higginbotham. 
And I suppose a man as writes books knows as 
much grammar as Miss Boardman wot turns up ’er 
nose at me if I ’appen to open my mouth when I’m 
anywhere near ’er.” 

But Mother wouldn’t ” 

‘‘ Excuse me, my dear. Your mother’s took 
up with the people about ’ere. She likes ’em and 
they like ’er. But she doesn’t want to be bothered 
with the likes o’ me. And that being so I’d rather 
die a dozen deaths than push myself on to ’er.” 

Ella was silenced. 

■‘I do ’ope you’ll like my boy,” Mrs Goosey 
resumed after a minute’s silence. ‘‘ He’s cornin’ 
down ’ere for a good long ’oliday as soon as his 
father can spare ’im.” 

I am sure we shall be glad to see him,” said 
Ella. 

“ He’s a nice lad, for all he’s rather dull and 
quiet-like since he came out of the army. His face 
is a bit spotty. It always was, for all I gave ’im 
plenty of brimstone and treacle every spring and 
spent pounds on ointments and stuff from the 
chemist’s. It must ha’ been the smell of the 
leather. Do you think it was ? ” 

But he wasn’t amongst the leather as a baby.” 

Wasn’t he just ? As soon as ever he could 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


94 

crawl he was in with his dad in the parlour. I must 
say, sometimes I was very glad, especially on wash 
days. And Tom was as good as gold ; let ’im play 
with the leather and the sparables and everytliink 
except the knives. But it did make ’im smell 
’orrid. I used to bath ’im with Pels Naptha an’ 
Lifebuoy and all the stinkin’ soaps from the grocer’s. 
But the leather beat ’em all.” 

“ I should think it would,” said Ella with a smile. 

Alec got a good eddication,” Mrs Goosey con- 
tinued. “ As soon as we moved into the ’Badlands 
— that’s where the swells live — we sent ’im to the 
Grammar School. They learnt ’im French and 
Latin and football — not that he wanted much 
learnin’ of that. After he went to the war, he 
said that some of the . French words he learned in 
Kettering were spelled the same in France for all 
the sound was diff’rent. But I think the Latin was, 
like my silver-mounted dressing-bag, more horna- 
ment than use. I do ’ope you’ll like Alec.” 


CHAPTER VII 


I T was a glorioxis May morning. The air was 
sweet, clean and wholesome. The grass was 
as green as an emerald and the gorse as yellow 
as gold. The sea flung back the warm rays of the 
sun from a million dazzling facets. The rough 
outline of the rocks was blurred by the heated 
atmosphere. The shadows under the cliff were 
black, cavernous and cool. 

Ella sat in her hollow in the rocks, bathed in 
sunshine, warm to the heart, thrilled with exquisite 
delight. Every nerve in her young body responded 
to Nature’s glowing invitation. She could scarce 
resist a strong inclination to sing, or possibly shout, 
with the joy of it all. 

A muffled exclamation caused her to start and 
look round. For one moment she met the glance 
of the weird girl who preached to the waves. The 
girl’s large brown eyes burned with unearthly 
light in a face as waxen as a white camelia ; her 
mouth, drawn down at the corners, was closed so 
tightly that her lips had almost disappeared ; her 
nostrils expanded and contracted like those of a 
finely trained athlete after a race. 

After a single glance the girl continued her way 
to the point of the rocks. Ella was not sure whether 

95 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


96 

the message of her eyes was one of resentment or 
appeal. Possibly she resented Ella’s presence on 
her special preserve ; on the other hand, she was 
undoubtedly ill and needed somebody’s care. 

Ella had almost made up her mind to risk the 
girl’s anger at her interference and go to her help. 
Suddenly the strange creature threw out her arms 
in the same gesture as before. But no words came. 
Obviously she tried to speak, but Ella could not 
hear any sound. She leaned further forward, 
stumbled, and fell into the water. 

In a moment Ella was at the place where the girl 
had disappeared. She noticed, with a shudder, 
long streaks, of blood in the water, close to the 
rocks. A little further out, in the depths of the 
crystal-clear water, she saw the girl herself — or her 
body. Ella tossed her hat on the rocks and dived, 
as cleanly as a sea-bird, into the water. She had 
no difficulty in bringing the girl to the surface. 

The rocks rose rather abruptly from the water. 
Ella saw, at a glance, that there was no suitable 
place for landing. She started at once to swim 
towards the sand of the bay, a distance of perhaps 
fifty yards. 

Dr. Austin’s car was passing along the road that 
skirted the bay beyond the rough dunes. It was 
said of him, in the town, that his eyes were every- 
where. Be that as it may, he had fortunately 
noticed a woman, fully dressed, dive into the sea 
from the rocks. He stopped his car to examine 
more closely this strange proceeding. As soon as 
his keen eyes discovered the swimmer, bearing a 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 97 

burden, he rushed down to the edge of the water. 

When Ella drew near, the doctor waded in and 
took the unconscious girl in his arms. Ella was 
grateful for his help. The girl was a dead weight, 
and it was Ella’s first swim that season. She was 
glad to sit down on the damp sand when she had 
followed the doctor out of the water. 

“ Head rather badly cut,” said the doctor after a 
swift examination, ‘‘ but washed fairly clean. 
She’ll come round in a few minutes. How did it 
happen ? ” 

‘‘ She must have struck the rock when she fell 
into the sea,” 

“ She fell in ? Are you sure she didn’t throw 
herself in ? ” 

Quite sure,” Ella replied, although she was no 
such thing. 

‘‘ She needs attention.” 

Do you know her ? ” Ella asked. 

‘‘ Mabel Fielding — lives in a cottage in Sandy 
Lane.” 

You will take her there of course,” said Ella. 

Not a bit of good.” 

Why not ? ” 

There’s no one there to look after her. She 
will require considerable care, probably for some 
weeks.” 

He looked a challenge at Ella. 

Take her to the vicarage,” said Ella, accepting 
the challenge with eagerness. ‘‘ I’ll look after her 
myself.” 

Good,” said the doctor. 


98 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

The chauffeur had left his car and come down to 
the bay as soon as he realised that something was 
amiss. He came forward to help the doctor 
to carry the still unconscious girl to the car. 

I can do this myself/’ the doctor said, raising 
the girl easily in his arms. You’d better run 
round and fetch Miss Danesford’s hat. She needn’t 
lose that as well as spoil her clothes.” 

Ella smiled. She had heard that Dr. Austin 
had a wonderful head for detail, and that nothing 
escaped him. 

Fortunately the car was a four-seater. The 
doctor wrapped Mabel Fielding in a rug and placed 
her carefully on the back seat. He told Ella that 
she must sit in front with the chauffeur, but before 
she took her seat he insisted upon enveloping her 
in his own coat. He had a short, but efficacious, 
way with objectors. 

“ To the vicarage — like blue blazes ! ” he in- 
structed the chauffeur as he jumped in beside his 
patient. 

As soon as they arrived at the vicarage the doctor 
took command of everybody. It was a way that 
he had. As a rule it worked very well, because 
most of the people in Midlington were somewhat 
afraid of him, and his orders, issued in the tone 
and manner of a sergeant-major, invariably re- 
sulted in benefit to everybody concerned. Only 
occasionally did one of the ladies in the villas object 
to his taking charge of all her domestic arrange- 
ments. For his part, when challenged about his 
autocratic methods, he defended himself by plead- 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 99 

ing that women were usually incapable, but when 
anything out of the ordinary happened they were 
simply damnable. 

“ Now go to your room and change your clothes,’^ 
he said to Ella as soon as he and the chauffeur had 
carried Mabel into one of the bedrooms and placed 
her on a sofa. ‘‘ Your mother and one of the 
maids can undress the girl and get her into bed.’’ 

“ Mother and I will do it,” said Ella quietly. 

We shall have her ready for you in a few minutes.” 

Do as I tell you,” he said in his usual Midlington 
manner, leading her by the arm towards the door. 
‘‘ You’ll get your death of cold.” 

Ella opened the door and held it open. 

“ I’ll call you when we are ready,” she said. 

If you feel cold in your wet things, one of the 
maids will give you a hot drink.” 

When the doctor came back into the room, in less 
than five minutes, he was surprised to see Ella clad 
in fresh garments. He had not considered the 
possibility of Ella’s giving up her own room to her 
strange guest. 

For a couple of days Mabel lay in a condition 
more or less comatose. Occasionally she would 
open her eyes and regard Ella with a fixed look of 
great intensity. But she never spoke. The doctor 
came twice a day. He did not say much beyond 
directions for food ; he was obviously puzzled 
about his patient. 

In his own house, however. Dr. Austin was quite 
gleeful about his arrangements for Mabel Fielding. 
Not that he talked about his patients to outsiders ; 


loo ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

he was always most punctilious on that point. 
But when Sydney Raynham dropped in to smoke 
a pipe after surgery hours he considered that he was 
quite justified in discussing Ella. He had done so 
even before she had taken Mabel into the vicarage. 

This is no world for slackers,” he had said soon 
after Ella and her mother arrived in Midlington. 

The girl is young ; she is as strong as a horse and 
as healthy as a goat ; she ought to be doing some 
work.” 

‘‘ Some people need rest occasionally,” Sydney 
Raynham urged. She has probably worked 

hard during the war and ” 

That be hanged for a tale ! ” the doctor inter- 
rupted. ‘‘ Very likely she flitted about from one 
committee to another, or showed her teeth to 
wounded soldiers in V.A.D. hospitals, and believed 
she was giving the Germans a deuce of a time. 
Committees ! Did you ever know a committee yet 
that did anything but talk ? ” 

“ Not often,” Raynham admitted. Although 
I knew one that hanged a man.” 

This girl has come here to make a sensation 
with her London clothes and her Paris hats. She’s 
fed up with London and other places where there 
are, unfortunately, hundreds of butterflies like 
herself. Here she thought she would have a clear 
field and no competitors. I’m damned glad she’ll 
be disappointed.” 

“ It’s not like you, Austin, to believe village 
gossip.” 

“ I don’t. But I have got eyes in my head.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


lOl 


“ Usually they are good and keen. This time I 
think they distort ” 

‘‘ Rubbish ! I met scores like her not only 
here but in France as well. They gave me the 
pip.” 

“ Obviously. And they did more. They so 
jaundiced your vision that you do not recognise 
a real worker when you see one.” 

We’ll see who’s right,” the doctor said with 
supreme confidence in his own judgment. ‘‘ At 
the same time if I get a chance to make that wench 
do some useful work, you may call me anything you 
like if I don’t take it.” 

Dr. Austin was one of the kindest men in the 
world. He was also an excellent judge of char- 
acter. Considering his method of work, he made 
surprisingly few mistakes, so few indeed that he 
never remembered them. Plis life was so full of 
practical work that he never read anything but his 
professional journals ; in his heart of hearts he 
despised a man who wrote novels as much as he 
did one who manufactured face-powder. Pie liked 
Sydney Raynham ; he enjoyed a chat with him 
in the evenings ; but he had no confidence what- 
ever in his opinion of Ella Danesford. 

“ I’ve done it ! ” the doctor announced glee- 
fully, as soon as Sydney Raynham appeared, on 
the evening of the accident to Mabel Fielding. 

“ Done what ? ” Raynham asked, producing 
his pipe. 

‘‘ I have shoved a bit of useful work on to that 
die baggage at the vicarage.” Dr, Austin’s words, 


102 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


especially at night, were sometimes stronger than 
his thoughts. 

I hear that she saved Mabel Fielding’s life.” 

She did. I saw her. She dived into the 
sea as clean as a whistle and swam ashore like 
a duck. These butterfly women are often clever 
at sport. There’s a finish about them, you 
know.” 

I guess there’s a finish about most things that 
Ella Danesford does.” 

‘‘ Hillo ! Smitten ? ” 

“ I admire her immensely.” 

Chacttn d son gout. Anyhow I’ll do my best 
to make a woman of her either for you or for some- 
body else. I have several schemes in my mind. 
I expect some of them will come off.” 

This also was Dr Austin’s way. He had no great 
faith in religion or in religious workers ; but he had 
considerable faith in himself and in humanity. He 
was a good evolutionist and believed in the amelior- 
ation of the race. And he w^as confident of his 
ability to aid the evolutionary forces to do their 
benevolent work in individual cases. 

Ella as a nurse satisfied even Dr. Austin, al- 
though he qualified his admission of her capability — 
to Sydney Raynham only — by a remark about 
frivolous women and new toys. The ladies of 
Midlington, when they heard of Ella’s altruism, 
merely shrugged their shoulders and asked ‘‘ What 
next ? ” Mrs. Goosey, however, overcame her 
shyness and made her way, on the second morning 
after the occurence, into the vicarage kitchen. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 103 

Ella left her mother in charge of the patient and 
hustled her visitor into the drawing-room. 

Don’t you ever dare to come again to the back 
door,” Ella said shaking a playful finger before 
Mrs Goosey’s nose. ‘‘ My friends come to the 
front door.” 

I’m more used to kitchens,” Mrs Goosey ex- 
plained. ‘‘ And I’m not one of your friends.” 

Indeed you are. The best friend I have in 
Midlington.” 

Me ! Me a friend of yours ! Never in this 
world. Maybe in the next I’ll speak better gram- 
mar and know wot to do with my ’ands and feet. 
If I do somebody ’ll ’ave their work cut out to learn 
me. Alec ’as tried but he gave it up. Maybe the 
angels ’ll ’ave more patience. All the same I’m 
glad I’m not an angel. I wouldn’t like the job of 
learnin’ me. Not that it would make much 
diff’rence as far as I can see. Everybody knows 
wot I mean, except Miss Boardman and one or two 
others as pretends they don’t know. Alec said 
onct as they’ve give up teachin’ grammar in 
schools. Good job too ! Can’t see any use in it.” 

Never mind your grammar,” said Ella. I 
shall be very much hurt if you deny being my 
friend. I expect you came to inquire about poor 
Mabel Fielding. If so, you are the first.” 

I didn’t come to inquire,” Mrs Goosey stam- 
mered. “ I came to see if she could be took over 
to my ’ouse. ’Taint fit for the likes of you to look 
after the likes of ’cr. But I could do it fine. And 
with two strappin’ maids ” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


104 

It’s exceedingly good of you,” Ella interrupted. 

But it is quite impossible. For one thing she 
couldn’t be moved. And for another I want to 
look after her myself.” 

Then let me ’elp,” pleaded Mrs Goosey. Let 
me sit up with ’er at night. I’m grand at that. I 
sat up night after night with Alec when ’e was 
teethin’. And I could sleep all day if I liked. 
I could do that anyway for all there is to do here.” 

“ Thank you ever so much. If I require your 
help I will certainly accept it with pleasure. In 
the meantime Mother and I can quite easily do all 
that is necessary.” 

Mrs Goosey sighed. 

“ I thought it would be no use,” she said lugu- 
briously. ‘‘ But I say,” she added, brightening a 
little, “ you will let me pay the doctor’s bill. I like 
paying bills better than anything and I aven’t paid 
a single one to the doctor since I came ’ere. It’s 
only right I should ’elp to support such a deservin’ 
man.” 

Even this, Ella gently but firmly declined. 

Money’s a curse,” said Mrs Goosey bitterly, as 
she rose to go. ‘‘ It ain’t a bit o’ wonder that the 
papers are down on the new rich. I’m down on ’em 
myself. And, if it wasn’t for the women and 
childer, I don’t care a hang ’ow soon a slump 
comes in the boot trade. When I was poor and 
’ad little, I could ’ave a bit o’ pleasure oy sittin’ 
up with ever so many people. But since Tom got 
that darned old chapel I’ve been in bed every night 
of my life. Even my own Alec never ’ad nothin’ 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 105 

worse than the mumps, and you can’t for shame 
sit up with the mumps. When Mrs Brown’s Mary 
was bad with rheumatic fever, just before I came 
’ere, I was going to sit up with ’er, but a cousin or 
something came that very hevening and did it. 
It’s surprisin’ ’ow many relations turn up when 
you’ve got a bit o’ money and all ready to sit up 
or do anythink. I’m like the man in the Bible at 
the fish-pond ; just when I’m going to do some- 
think for my own pleasure somebody steps in be- 
fore me and I’m left out in the cold.” 

“ Your turn will come, never fear,” said Ella, re- 
straining a smile. 

‘‘ Maybe you’ll even refuse to take a little fruit 
that I left at the back door,” said Mrs Goosey 
somewhat resentfully. 

“ Oh no ! ” cried Ella, glad to agree at length 
to something. I think it is charming of you to 
have thought of it.” 

If the poor thing upstairs can’t eat it,” said 
Mrs Goosey on the doorstep, “ I ’ope you won’t let 
it go rotten for want o’ usin’ it yourself.” 

Ella promised that it would not be wasted. She 
almost regretted her promise when her two 
maids staggered in with a basket which contained 
sufficient fruit to stock a fair-sized fruiterer’s 
shop. She wondered how Mrs Goosey had carried 
it. 

On the third day after Mabel’s accident, Ella 
sat by her patient’s bedside. It was afternoon, 
and the sun, catching only the side of one window, 
suffused a mellow glow that was both cheerful and 

H 


io6 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

restful. Ella had been sewing, but she had allowed 
her work to drop into her lap. She sat motionless, 
thinking of nothing definite, but allowing her mind 
to stray over many pastures. Her mother was out, 
returning calls ; the maids were sewing in the 
kitchen ; the house was peacefully still. 

After a while Ella became conscious that Mabel 
was watching her. She waited a little ; then she 
turned slowly round and smiled. The girl in the 
bed withdrew one hand and held it out, tremblingly, 
towards Ella. 

“ You are better,” Ella said, taking her hand 
and patting it gently. 

You saved my life,” the girl murmured. 

‘‘ Nonsense. I only helped you out of the water 
after you had slipped and fallen in.” 

‘‘ I wish you hadn’t,” said Mabel, knitting her 
brows. 

Ella, with a rush of feeling, dropped the girl’s 
hand and placed her arms round her neck. 

You have years and years of happiness in store 
for you,” she said after kissing her. 

I shall never be happy again,” Mabel replied 
with a perceptible pause between the last two 
words. 

If conviction could be produced in another mind 
by earnestness, the poor girl’s outlook would have 
altered immediately. And, if real affection could 
banish care, her brow would instantly have cleared. 
Unfortunately neither affection nor conviction can 
always drive away life’s shadows. 

I want to tell you about myself,” said Mabel 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 107 

when Ella’s protestations ceased. The girl’s voice 
had grown stronger although the expression of her 
face had not altered. 

“ Are you well enough ? ” Ella inquired 
anxiously. 

“ I went into the world to make my own living 
when I was seventeen,” Mabel continued, taking 
no heed of Ella’s question. Like many girls I 
was discontented with my work. I wanted to gei 
on more quickly. I read in the Sunday papers 
about the wonderful things done by actresses and 
I prayed to God to give me my chance. He 
did.” 

There was a concentrated bitterness in the last 
two words that made Ella shudder. 

‘‘ I was taken on by a travelling revue company 
that played mostly in the smaller country towns. 
It was a hard life. I kept straight. I thought I 
was learning my profession. I was an ignorant 
young fool.” 

‘‘ No, no,” cried Ella. “ You were brave and 
strong.” 

One night we were playing in — it doesn’t 
matter about the name of the place. A number 
of soldiers, waiting to be demobbed, were in the 
Town Hall. They didn’t think much of our show. 
That was not to be wondered at. Some of us 
didn’t think much of it ourselves. There was a 
bit of a rag in the hall and some horse-play as we 
came out at the back afterwards. I was scared. 

I had never seen anything of that sort before. 
And when somebody caught me round the neck 


io8 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

as I was trying to get through the crowd I screamed 
and fought like a mad thing.” 

‘‘ Pm sure I should have done the same.” said 
Ella. 

“ A young officer scattered the crowd and caught 
me by the arm. He was strong. The minute he 
touched me I stopped screaming and felt safe. 
My God ! I was safe too 1 ” 

Ella had nothing to say in reply to the poor girl’s 
fearful irony. 

‘‘ He saw me home to my lodgings. He called 
the next morning. I saw him every day. He was 
kind. Yes, he was kind. He bought me every- 
thing that he could think of. I fell in love with 
him. I think I loved him the very first time I 
saw him. I know, on the second day, I would have 
let him cut me into little pieces if it would have 
done him any good.” 

Ella squeezed her hand. She understood. 

“ When our week there was up, he proposed 
marriage. He was so shy about it and so earnest 
and I loved him so well that I just threw myself 
in his arms and said I would do whatever he liked. 
He paid some money, I think, to get me off my 
engagement with the company. I stayed on in the 
same lodgings and he came to me when he could. 
He had the banns called at once and we were married 
in the parish church. It was only afterwards 
that I thought it strange that none of his own 
people were at the marriage.” 

“ Perhaps he had no people,” Ella suggested 
although without much conviction in her tone, 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


109 

He said he was expecting his papers any 
minute, so we stayed where we were and went 
excursions into the country on a motor-bicycle 
and side-car. I was as happy as a bird and never 
dreamt of asking him any questions about himself 
or his people. There never was a bigger fool on 
this earth. I deserve all I got.” 

‘‘ But what was it that ” 

‘‘ He was demobbed in about a fortnight I think 
— I forget how long it was. He played his part 
well ; or else I was easily deceived. That 
was more likely. Anyhow he was tremendously 
excited about going home to tell his people about 
me. He could wait for nothing. He would be 
back next day. Next day ! I never saw him 
again.” 

“ Never saw him again ! ” echoed Ella. 

I waited for nearly a fortnight,” the girl con- 
tinued in an emotionless voice that really empha- 
sized her feeling. My money was done. He 
hadn’t left me much because he was coming back 
so soon. My old company had worked round to a 
place only ten miles away and the manager came 
over to see us. I joined up again and w’’as glad 
enough to do it.” 

But did you not make any inquiries ? ” Ella 
asked. 

‘‘ I did go up to the aerodrome. They were very 
busy. They said they’d inquire, but I never heard 
anything.” 

‘‘ We’ll soon find him,” cried Ella with 
enthusiasm. What was his name ? ” 


no ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

‘‘ It was — It doesn’t matter. Besides, I don’t 
think I want to find him.” 

But why not ? ” Ella demanded. 

‘‘ I have my pride, if I have nothing else. If 
he doesn’t want me, what’s the good of finding 
him ? ” 

‘‘ There may be some explanation,” Ella sug- 
gested. 

I thought so too,” said Mabel with a distorted 
smile. “ Now I know. There has been a good 
deal in the papers about deserted wives. I’m one 
of them, but I’m not going to get into the papers.” 

How did you come here ? ” Ella asked. 

“ After I went back to the company I didn’t 
much care what happened to me. Some of the 
girls, out of kindness, gave me port wine sometimes 
or I couldn’t have done the little bit of work I had 
to do. Then some of the older women gave me 
whisky. It’s horrid stuff, but it does you good. 
It makes you forget for a while. The company 
burst up at Luton. Two or three of us were taken 
on by another show. I was left behind ill at Dar- 
chester. I came here, when I was a little better, 
because I found cheap lodgings with an old woman 
in Sandy Lane. When she died, some months ago, 
the landlord allowed me to keep on the cottage 
myself. I suppose you know^ I have been drunk — ” 

‘‘ Please don’t,” Ella interrupted. 

I have been,” Mabel insisted. Not that it 
takes much to do it and methylated spirit is a 
great deal cheaper than whisky. There is one 
thing about drink ” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


III 


“ How did you manage to live ? ” Ella again 
interrupted. 

I had saved a little and I sold most of the things 
that — he had bought me. My wedding-ring kept 
me quite a long time. I had no sentiment about 
keeping it — like the noble women in books and 
plays. People talk a lot about the cost of living. 
It is surprising how little you can live on even in 
these days if you try. But Pm done now. I 
couldn’t pay last week’s rent.” 

Don’t worry about that,” said Ella hastily. 

I’ll see about everything. You must hurry up 
and get well. We simply can’t allow an actress 
to ” 

‘‘ Actress 1 ” the girl interrupted, her voice 
raised above the low pitch in which she had pre- 
viously spoken. Don’t call me that. I was no 
actress. I was a young girl, with a fairly pretty 
face, dressed up to entice men into a pretty rotten 
show. My chief business was to stand in a corner, 
as near the footlights as possible, and smile. 
Actress ! ” 

There was a long pause. Ella, thinking the girl 
was dropping off to sleep, remained silent and 
motionless. But Mabel was not asleep. She opened 
her eyes and began to speak : 

There’s one thing that puzzles me. Since I 
came here somebody has been trying to help me. 
The grocer has often sent me more than I ordered 
or paid for. And I have found things on the door- 
step at night. I wonder if he — What a damned 
fool I am I ” 


112 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


This time she really did go to sleep. For several 
minutes Ella looked at the pretty little pinched face 
with tears in her eyes. Then she went back to her 
chair and began to wonder. 


/ 


CHAPTER VIII 


E lla had never troubled much about philo- 
sophic terms. She did not even worry 
about whether this is the best or the worst 
of all possible worlds. She probably knew that 
such men as Leibnitz, Schopenhauer, and Hume 
had existed ; but she probably knew also that they 
were dead. Peace to their ashes ! She had been 
sufficiently in contact with reality to recognize the 
misery, worthlessness and irrationality that are in 
the world. But she claimed, also, that the light is 
sweet and it is a pleasant thing to behold the sun. 
She always suspected certain poets, although she 
did not go back as far as Sophocles, of drawing a 
pensive satisfaction from their indulgence in moods 
of morbidity, or even of finding life very well worth 
living while they displayed to sympathetic souls 
the moving pageant of their bleeding hearts. 

It is not surprising, therefore, that Ella took a 
hopeful view of poor MabePs future. She had 
never attempted the impossible task of adding up 
the sum of life’s pleasures and pains and of striking 
a balance between the two ; but she had a more or 
less intuitive conviction that there is at least a 
rough sort of justice done to poor mortals. Even 
if Mabel never found her errant husband — -and it 

113 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


114 

might be better it she never found him — some 
compensation would be given her by the President 
of the Immortals for all her suffering. 

Yet Ella had her hours of doubt and of anxiety. 
Her patient, after the effort of telling her story, 
had relapsed into a nearly comatose condition. 
She spoke but seldom, and then only in answer to 
a question put by Ella. Even Dr Austin could 
not make her talk. Yet she appeared to know 
always whether Ella was in the room or not ; she 
was invariably more restful when Ella was with her. 
When asked if she would care to see a visitor she 
returned a very decided negative. 

That was why Mrs Goosey was not permitted to 
see her. No one else troubled about the poor waif. 
But Mrs Goosey was persistent in her offers of 
service. 

“ I calls it a shame,’’ she said to Ella, to ’ave 
you stewed up in that there room with a sick girl 
when I’m runnin’ to fat in a most alarmin’ way 
for want of somethink to do. You ought to be out 
in the sunshine enjoyin’ yourself, and I ought to be 
in, enjoyin’ myself lookin’ after that poor girl. 
The world’s all wrong divided. Fancy me in a 
jumper dashin’ about after white tennis balls — 
not but wot I could dash as well as Mrs Lawrence 
as always minds me of a circus elephant — and 
listenin’ to Major Wot’s-’is-name miscallin’ the 
balls because they don’t come to ’im to be ’it. 
That’s wot you ought to be doin’.” 

‘‘ But I don’t particularly wish to hear Major — ” 
Nay. But you want to be out and at play. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 115 

Every time you pass the winder and the sun kisses 
)'Our cheek you feel the call ” 

You really must not talk like that,” Ella inter- 
rupted. I have grown very fond of poor Mabel 
and am glad she likes to have me with her.” 

‘‘ Who could help likin’ to ’ave you near ’er — 
or near ’im for that matter ? Wot I say is that 
everybody should do her share, and the older you 
get the more you ought to do. That’s life. At 
least it’s woman’s life — except when your ’usband’s 
in the boot trade. Wot’s the good of growin’ old 
unless you do more work and leave time for the 
young uns to enjoy themselves ? You’re young 
and you’re doin’ more than your share. I’m gettin’ 
on and I’m doin’ less than mine. Why even Ada 
won’t let me scrub the kitchen table. If there’s 
one thing in a ’ouse I love doin’ it’s scrubbin’ a 
table. I could do it better than Ada too. Not 
but wot she’s a good worker ; I will say that for 
’er. But I think it’s too bad that a woman can’t 
be allowed to touch ’er own furniture unless she 
does it on the sly when Ada’s out. I like to make 
a good splash when I’m scrubbin’, and maybe ’um 
a bit of a song ; but you can’t do that when you’re 
afraid o’ your life o’ being catched.” 

“ You’re a dear ! ” cried Ella. You do me as 
much good as a cold bath.” 

A wot ? exclaimed Mrs Goosey, her eyes 
almost staring out of her head. Don’t go for to 
tell me that you ’ave to ’ave a cold bath. Dis- 
graceful, I calls it. Now look ’ere. Any Saturday 
night as that faggit o’ yours lets the fire down 


ii6 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

before you ’ave your bath, just come over to me. 
We always ’ave more ’ot water than I can use and 
nobody would be more welcome to it. Cold bath ! 
Makes me shudder. If them there miners ’ad to 
’ave a cold bath once or twice it would put strikin’ 
out of their ’eads and let us ’ave all the coal we 
need. If I was the government — but there. Tom 
says I never did understand politics.” 

‘‘ I wish Mabel would make more progress,” 
Ella said reflectively. She ought to be out in the 
sunshine these glorious days. But she has no 
inclination whatever to exert herself.” 

Mrs Goosey was silent for a minute or two. She 
was thinking deeply and the effort had rather a 
distorting effect on her shining face. At length 
she made up her mind. 

I always ’ave said that when you want to find 
fault with anybody you’d better go and do some 
’ard wwk like washin’. You work off your nasty 
feelin’ and do no ’arm to anybody except maybe 
a blouse or something that can’t bear ’ard rubbin’. 
Not that I want to find fault with Dr Austin. 
He’s a kind man and a good doctor. If I was bad 
to-morrow I’d send for ’im like a shot and he’d cure 
me in two or three days. He understands such as 
me. But I doubt if ’e understands all women. I 
think he expects ’em all to be like Mr Raynham’s 
sister wot ’as no nerves to speak of and can make 
speeches like a man. That poor thing upstairs is 
a bundle of nerves and, wot’s more, she ’as been 
starvin’ ’erself to death.” 

She’s much fatter,” Ella ejaculated. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


117 

I don’t doubt it. But wot’s wrong with ’er 
is ’er nerves. And it’s brought on by trouble of 
some kind.” 

“ Do you know her ? ” Ella asked hurriedly. 

I’ve seen ’er at a distance like. I sorter took 
an interest in seein’ ’er because everybody was 
down on ’er, for all not one of ’em ’ad ever spoke a 
word to ’er. As I was sayin’, it’s ’ard for a ’ealthy 
man like Dr Austin to ’ave patience with a woman’s 
nerves. But there are men as ’ave studied the 
nerves and don’t expect too much from ’em.” 

How do you know so much about Dr Austin ? ” 
Ella asked. 

‘‘I’ve met ’im a few times at the Bungalow. 
You see Mr Raynham sometimes asks me out to 
tea. I wouldn’t go for anythink when his sister’s 
at ’ome. Not if I know’d it. But she has a ’abit 
of droppin’ in sudden like and ’as catched me two 
or three times. She lectures all the time worse 
than a parson. Wot’s the good o’ tellin’ me, at 
my time o’ life, ’ow to feed babies and bring ’em 
up ? And I’m sure it ain’t my fault if the eddication 
of the country is all wrong. And as for people that 
write books as are all rubbitch, I say they may as 
well be doin’ that as somethink worse. While 
they’re writin’ they’re not talkin’ people’s ’eads 
off about Glaxo and Bolshies and X.Y.Z’s.” 

“ It is very confusing ? ” murmured Ella. 

“ She is,” asserted Mrs Goosey, emphasizing 
the pronoun. “ But I do like to talk with ’im. 
A man’s talk is mostly better than a woman’s. 
More variety like. If a woman’s serious she’ll talk 


ii8 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

nothin’ else until she gives you a stummick-ache ; 
and, if she’s gay, she goes too far and makes you 
blush. But a man gives you some of all sorts, 
and not too much of one. Mr Raynham’s fond 
of a bit o’ fun and never tries to improve my mind. 
I can’t bear improvin’ either my mind or my figure. 
You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, 
but that’s no reason for turnin’ up your nose at a 
bit o’ bacon.” 

‘‘ And you can get genuine gold,” added Ella, 
“ out of a purse made of ” She stopped short. 

“ Leather,” said Mrs Goosey with emphasis. 

It wears better than silk.” 

It was owing to Mrs Goosey’s suggestion that Sir 
Henry Pinker, the Harley Street specialist, was 
brought down to see Mabel. Dr Austin had readily 
accepted the suggestion and secured the great 
man’s visit in a few days. 

‘‘ She has been suffering from neurasthenia for 
some time before the accident,” Sir Henry informed 
Ella. ‘‘ In fact the superficial injury to her head 
has little or nothing to do with her present con- 
dition. Neurasthenia, as probably you know, 
means in popular language nervous debility. When 
the nerves are debilitated, almost anything may 
happen. And the brain, the centre of the nervous 
system, is always more or less upset. Her refusal 
to see people is one of the common symptoms of 
that condition. Her complete cure may be, and 
I should say will be, a matter of considerable time.” 

Ella received instructions concerning diet. Dr 
Austin received advice concerning medical treat- 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


119 

ment, Sir Henry received Ella’s cheque, and poor 
Mrs Goosey received nothing. She was inclined to 
be indignant because Ella had accepted her sug- 
gestion but declined to accept the specialist’s fee. 

Mabel improved somewhat under the new treat- 
ment. She talked a little more, though only to 
Ella. She had no inclination to read, and did not 
even like Ella to read to her. But she became well 
enough to be left alone occasionally ; in fact she 
begged Ella sometimes to go out, saying that she 
was quite contented with her own society. 

Ella did not go far from the house. The grounds 
became more beautiful every day, and she was 
satisfied to roam through the shrubbery or to watch 
Johnston’s operations in the kitchen garden. 
Sydney Raynham sometimes joined her, and Mrs 
Goosey watched for her coming out as a cat watches 
for a mouse. 

‘‘ I think it’s about the nicest thing in the world,” 
said Mrs Goosey one afternoon, ‘‘ to sit in the warm 
and say nothing when you know you could talk if 
you liked.” 

“ You have a good idea of the meaning of friend- 
ship,” Sydney Raynham replied, smiling at Ella. 

The three sat on a shaded garden-seat on the 
south side of the house. In front of them the 
tennis-lawn swam in the heat ; to their right a rose 
garden, snugly ensconced between the drawing- 
room window and the wall of the kitchen-garden, 
gave back colour and perfume in return for the 
vivifying rays of the sun ; beds of giant tulips, 
viola's, polyanthuses, and one long strip filled with 


120 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


gorgeous perennials, relieved the green of the lawn 
between the house and the shrubbery. Such a 
scene, and two friends near, gladdened the heart 
of Mrs Goosey. Perspiration stood in beads on her 
brow, but she beamed with pleasure and occasion- 
ally sighed with satisfaction. 

“ Have I now ? ’’ said Mrs Goosey with surprise. 
“ I used to think it wasn’t perlite to sit like a 
dummy, and many’s the time I’ve talked the great- 
est balderdash just to keep things goin’. Since I 
got to know Miss Danesford I’ve learned a lot. I 
do believe she could nearly teach me grammar.” 

“ Miss Danesford is a good teacher,” said Sydney 
with a smile. 

“ I object to being discussed,” said Ella lazily. 

I have not sufficient energy to defend myself.” 

“ There’s no need, my duck,” Mrs Goosey assured 
her. “ Nobody ’ere is going to say one word 
against you.” 

‘‘ But Mr Raynham has just called me a teacher,” 
said Ella looking quizzically at Mrs Goosey. 

“ Ay, I was wondering about that,” replied Mrs 
Goosey, turning her eyes upon the novelist. “ The 
women I’ve knowed to be teachers ain’t much to 
look at or to talk to neither. Somehow they seem 
to be so busy teaching other folks that they ’ave 
no time left to teach themselves. Their ’air’s 
mostly a sight — screwed up in a bun or dragglin’ 
all over their face — and I never saw one as hadn’t 
a few tapes ’anging about somewhere. They 
don’t know ’ow to put on their clothes — not pro- 
perly. And as fpr talkin’, I suppose they’re 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


I2I 


Stuffed so full of jometry and such-like that they 
can’t speak without shoutin’ at you as if you had 
forgot your exercise-book. I don’t suppose Mr 
Raynham meant no ’arm, but all the same — 
Lord ’a mercy 1 What’s that ? ” 

It was only a motor-car that had turned into the 
vicarage grounds. Jack Challenor stepped out of 
the car and came, with swinging stride, towards 
Ella. He stopped short when he caught sight of 
Mrs Goosey’s skirt. When that lady, however, 
twisted her head over Ella’s shoulder to see who 
was coming, he continued his advance. Ella 
greeted him hospitably and introduced him to the 
others. 

Mrs Goosey sat up very stiffly. She was not 
fond of strangers, to begin with, and this particular 
stranger had scowled at her most fiercely when she 
had peeped over Ella’s shoulder. She listened 
coldly while Ella asked a few questions concerning 
the work at the factory and was quite unimpressed 
by Jack’s answers. Doubtless Whitley councils 
and co-partnership meant very little to her, but at 
the same time Jack’s scowling approach meant 
much. First impressions still counted with Mrs 
Goosey. 

“ Wot I can’t make out,” she said at length, her 
bottled up feelings forcing a passage, “ is ’ow a 
man as is a man can spend ’is time making nasty 
smelly things like moty-cars, pizcnin’ the beautiful 
air wherever they goes, runnin’ over ’armless 
childer and ’ens, and frightenin’ other people to 
death.” 

I 


122 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


“ I do it for a living, Mrs Goosey,” said Jack 
very humbly. 

‘‘ Do you now ? ” said Mrs Goosey, always 
sympathetic with anybody who worked for a 
living. “ Of course that’s different. But could 
you not make a livin’ in some better way ? ” 

I am afraid not,” Jack replied, looking very 
sorrowful. 

Couldn’t you write books like Mr Raynham 
’ere ? It seems to me a nice easy way and doesn’ t 
take up too much time.” 

I haven’t sufficient imagination,” Jack pleaded. 

Imagination 1 ” Mrs Goosey repeated. ‘‘ You 
don’t mean to say as books are made up. Are they, 
Mr Raynham ? ” 

Mr Raynham admitted that they were. 

Lord sakes ! ” exclaimed Mrs Goosey. “ I 
thought they were true. It ought to say at the 
beginnin’ that they’re a pack o’ lies. And I have 
cried and cried till my eyes ’ave been as red as 
lobsters at the poor girl shiverin’ and shakin’ 
when some as she didn’t want, laid holt of ’er in a 
cellar or somewhere. Disgustin’, I calls it, to 
make anybody shed salt tears over lies. Never 
’card of such a thing. There’s plenty of real 
trouble in the world without sittin’ down com- 
fortably to invent more.” 

‘‘ That’s just what I think too,” exclaimed Jack 
Challenor. 

‘‘ I’ll go ’ome this very minute,” said Mrs Goosey, 
looking at Jack with approval, ‘‘ and burn every 
book in the ’ouse. Except of course the Bible 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


123 

and Old Moore and things like that as arc true. 
A liar I can’t abear, and I’ll ’ave no lying books 
in my ’ouse. Tom used to ’ave a thing called a 
barometer as was supposed to tell you wot kind of 
weather it was goin’ to be when you wanted to go 
out anywhere for the day. I broke it with the coal 
’ammer and put the pieces in the ash box. I 
wouldn’t ’ave no lyin’ things in my ’ouse, not if I 
know’d it. It was worse than a book, and spoiled 
three new ’ats on me before I got rid of it.” 

‘‘ I’ll join you, Mrs Goosey, at the sacrifice to 
veracity,” said Sydney Raynham, rising and 
taking his place by the lady’s side. “ There will be 
a certain appropriateness in my presence at the 
holocaust.” 

‘‘ Whatever is ’e talkin’ about ? ” asked Mrs 
Goosey, appealing to Ella. 

‘‘ He is still young enough to enjoy a bonfire,” 
Ella paraphrased. ‘‘ But please remember,” she 
added, that I love both to read a novel and to 
ride in a motor-car.” 

‘‘ Truth and honour ? ” asked Mrs Goosey. 

Ella gave the pledge of sincerity demanded, and 
Mrs Goosey departed with the novelist. Ella 
hoped that Raynham would be able to initiate his 
companion into the mystery of idealistic truth. 

‘‘ The novelist seems quite a decent sort,” Jack 
remarked as soon as he was left alone with Ella. 
“ Much better than I expected.” 

What did you expect ? ” Ella asked. 

“ Some kind of an oddity,” was the reply. 

Ella laughed. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


124 

I am very much like you,” she said confiden- 
tially. I always imagine people I know little or 
nothing about to be both queer and queer-looking. 
And I don’t think I shall ever be cured. I cannot 
imagine an actor as an ordinary young man like 
you ” 

Thank you ! ” Jack interrupted simulating 
indignation. 

‘‘ You know what I mean, so don’t try to look 
hurt. If you do, you must close your eyes. And 
I certainly could not imagine somebody really great, 
like — let me see — like a bishop, looking simply nice 
and not a bit pompous, as I expect you will look 
when you are old enough.” 

Thank you again,” said Jack. When I am 
old enough to be a bishop I may look nice ; at 
present I look ” 

“ As if you were enjoying yourself,” Ella in- 
terrupted. 

“ Well, I am. Do you know, I was afraid that 
You might fall in love with the novelist and ” 

“ I simply couldn’t afford it,” Ella interrupted. 
“ He’s making no money at all at present and I 
shall be obliged to marry somebody with heaps 
and heaps. I am a shocking housekeeper.” 

“ I dare say you will improve,” Jack muttered 
with a frown on his brow. 

“ Even if I don’t, Sydney expects to make a 
good deal after a while.” 

‘‘ Sydney ? Who the deuce is Sydney ? ” 

Mr Raynham.” 

“ So you call him by his Christian name ? ” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 125 

Why not ? ” 

It doesn’t matter. Go on calling him Sydney 
or anything else you like.” 

‘‘ Now you are not enjoying yourself a bit.” 

Yes, I am. I’m simply bubbling over with 
enjoyment. Tell me some more about Sydney.” 

‘‘ I want to tell you about some one else. You 
remember the poor thing who used to preach to 
the sea ? ” 

Rather 1 ” with a stifled groan. 

She’s here.” 

“ The devil ! ” he exclaimed, jumping up and 
looking all round. Where ? ” 

“ In the house ? ” 

‘‘ Can she see us ? ” he asked anxiously. 

“ Her room is at the front.” 

But she’ll be all over the place. Nobody could 
keep her in one room. What the ” 

She’s in bed,” Ella interrupted. 

Yes, but she’ll be out of it like a shot if she 
hears voices. Let’s go to the kitchen-garden.” 

“ Nonsense. She can’t move out of her bed.” 

‘‘Can’t she just ? You don’t know her ” 

“ She can’t possibly,” Ella insisted. “ She had 
an accident and has been ill ever since.” 

“ W'hat kind of an accident ? ” he asked eagerly. 

“ She fell into the sea.” 

“1 hat’s nothing. It’s a pity she wasn’t 
drowned.” 

“ Good gracious. Jack ! I beg your pardon. 
I didn’t mean to address you by ” 

“ Please — Ella.” 


126 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

All right. But you really are horribly cruel. 
This poor creature has never done you any harm.” 

Certainly not. But I don’t want a mad woman 
messing about after you. You came here for rest 
and all that kind of thing. I can’t help it, but I 
have a perfect horror of any kind of mental weak- 
ness or abnormality. I may appear cruel and 
inconsiderate and unsympathetic, but there it is. 
Believe me nothing would upset me more than to 
think of your associating with a woman whose 
brain is not all right.” 

‘‘ But I must. There is nobody else who will 
do it.” 

‘‘ I can quite understand that.” 

“ You wouldn’t have me send her away ” 

‘‘ Yes, I would. That’s the very thing. Send 
her to some institution. I’ll pay for her myself if 
you will only send her off at once.” 

“ I simply couldn’t. She has grown very fond 
of me and ” 

‘‘ Of course she has. She’ll talk your head off. 
She’ll argue about things she knows nothing what- 
ever about until she drives you mad as well as 
herself. I remember once — I mean I remember 
just such another. Quiet, well-mannered curates, 
stopping in the same boarding-house, used to beg 
her for the Lord’s sake to shut up.” 

“ She won’t speak at all,” said Ella quietly. 

“ Has she been struck dumb ? What a blessing ! ” 

“ You have not seen her, so I must forgive you,” 
said Ella seriously. “ I don’t mean that she has 
completely lost her power of speech. She does talk, 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


127 

but not enough. It would be much better for 
her if ” 

‘‘ Please excuse my interrupting you. But 
really you don’t understand a thing about abnormal 
people. You are extremely unsophisticated. That’s 
partly why you are so charming. But it’s also 
why you are so easily taken in. When you under- 
stand a little more, you will know that it’s the 
greatest mercy in the world that the woman up- 
stairs — any woman like that — has learned to hold 
her tongue.” 

‘‘ She has told me a little about herself,” said 
Ella, looking at Jack with a new expression in her 
eyes. 

Don’t believe it,” he said quickly. “ People 
like her imagine all kinds of things. Hallucination, 
you know.” 

“ It may be hallucination,” said Ella, but it 
seemed to me to be the truth.” 

‘‘ People who suffer in that way,” said Jack as 
sagely as the great specialist himself, can always 
make the things they imagine appear as if they 
had actually happened. In fact they are much 
more clever at that kind of thing than most 
novelists.” 


CHAPTER IX 


I F Mrs. Danesford had unluckily chanced to be 
a minor character in a well-constructed novel, 
one that contained neither improbability 
nor coincidence, she would have died, despite poor 
Ella’s sacrifice of time and money, shortly after she 
came to Midlington. Ella would then have been 
left, a friendless orphan, to face a bitter, cruel, 
and possibly lascivious world alone. A situation 
such as this is quite interesting and gives a writer 
considerable scope for his powers. Besides, rela- 
tions are sometimes as awkward to deal with in 
books as they are in real life. 

Mrs Danesford, whatever results would have 
followed if she had strayed into a really clever book, 
soon regained her former strength and vigour. 
People sometimes do. Her social instinct revived 
and sought outlet. She became in rapid succession 
a superintendent of the local Mothers’ Meeting, a 
hostess of the Tennis Club, a patron of the Cecilia 
Choir, and twenty other things as well. These were 
all symptoms of vigorous health. To the outside 
world they were signs of a well-lined purse. Ella, 
however, paid all the subscriptions, and Ella’s 
opinion of the purse was that the lining was already 
showing signs of wear. 

128 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 129 

It was not only her mother’s extravagance in the 
number of offices she chose to fill that drove Ella 
to frequent and surreptitious visits to the desk 
where she kept her bank pass-book. She had 
made herself responsible, in the lengthy jargon 
agreement, for all necessary repairs to the vicarage. 
Before long she had added a phrase to a well-known 
proverb and made it run : fools build houses, wise 
men live in them, but only madmen take them on a 
repairing lease. 

After some experience Ella came to the con- 
clusion that repairs, like other catastrophes such as 
plague, pestilence and influenza, move in cycles. 
In optimistic mood she varied the metaphor and 
asserted that the various parts of a rented house 
played some kind of a game with one another. First 
of all, the roof began to leak ; a builder, with several 
assistants and much paraphernalia, put it right at 
the third attempt. Then the cistern followed suit ; 
a plumber, with only one assistant and that a mere 
boy, spent a few days at the vicarage and an- 
nounced at the end of his visit that he had stopped 
the leak temporarily but a new cistern was needed. 
And by the time the pipe from the sink and a few 
other pipes had played their cards it was the turn of 
the roof to lead again from another suit. Ella 
learned from these things how easy it is for a builder 
or a plumber to retire from business at forty, and 
take to rose-growing or horse-racing. She began 
to understand, too, what bishops and archdeacons 
meant when they appealed — though all in vain — for 
money to meet the serious burden of dilapidations. 


130 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

It’s as bad as a disease to ’ave workmen about 
a ’ouse,” said Mrs Goosey when Ella unbosomed 
herself somewhat to her friend. “You never know 
’ow long they’re goin’ to last nor what part of the 
’ouse is goin’ to be took next. If ’ouses could only 
be made of leather and throwed away like an old 
pair o’ boots ! But I suppose folks would object to 
the smell.” 

“ What strikes me about the business is this,” 
said Ella, “ if women did their work in the same 
way as men, what would happen to the world ? ” 

“ Lord knows,” Mrs Goosey replied. “ But 
there ! Wot’s the good of askin’ ? Women might 
manage to idle about for a day or two, but they 
could never keep it up the way men do. God 
made women to work and men to idle, and that’s 
all there is to it. Not that our Tom is lazy. But 
he’s got men under ’im and that’s different.” 

“ We shall be obliged to invent a new profession 
for women,” said Ella. “ We’ll call them house- 
doctors. They’ll know a little plumbing, a little 
carpentering, and a little building. They’ll come 
in and do our small repairs quickly and deftly, 
and we’ll pay them well so as to have the work 
done in good time.” 

“ I once got the better of a plumber,” said Mrs 
Goosey reminiscently. She ignored Ella’s sugges- 
tion of a new profession for women. When she did 
not approve of a suggestion she always ignored it. 

“ Do tell me about it,” Ella begged. “ As far as 
my experience goes, I should have thought it 
impossible.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 131 

There ain’t much to tell. Joe Wibberley came 
to repair the gas pipe that fed my cooker. That 
was before we moved into the ’Badlands. You 
know the way plumbers behave, cornin’ and goin’ 
and all that before they begin, so I needn’t waste 
time tellin’ you. He had spent two mortal hours 
before knockin’ off time on a Tuesday lookin’ at the 
pipe, and said he’d be back next morning to finish 
the job.” 

“ I expect he didn’t come at all on Wednesday,” 
said Ella. 

‘‘ He come all right,” Mrs Goosey continued. 
‘‘ But he looked at the pipe and read wot horses 
had won the races in the paper and smoked ’is 
shag and did everythink except repair it. I got 
mad after a bit.” 

“ No wonder,” said Ella sympathetically. 

I got madder still when he told me, in answer 
to a remark o’ mine, that women never did any 
work and it wouldn’t matter a — you know what — 
whether they did or not. I bided my time. When 
it got on towards half-past eleven I put on my 
things and went round to Joe’s ’ouse. Joe liked 
’is dinner promp at twelve.” 

Ella smiled in anticipation. 

‘‘ You should ’ave seen ’is wife when he came in. 
She jumped up, upsettin’ my new ’at and two or 
three blouses as I’d got on appro., and made a dash 
at the fire. It was no good pokin’ it because it was 
as black as Joe’s face. He threatened me with the 
law and the parson and Tom and a lot of other 
people as make no diff’rence to nobody when I 


132 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

told ’im that Mary Ellen and me ’ad only been doin’ 
for onct wot ’e did every day of ’is life. The only 
diff’rence was ’e got paid for it and we didn’t.” 

“ Yes, the bills do mount up,” said Ella mourn- 
fully, seizing on the thing that was uppermost in 
her own mind. 

“ They do,” Mrs Goosey agreed. And they 
mount up more for a woman, and more especially 
still for a woman with plenty of money. Tom 
can always get a good deal took off a bill ’ere, but I 
suppose you can’t.” 

‘‘ I never try,” said Ella. 

‘‘ And if you did, it wouldn’t make no diff’rence. 
You don’t know the langwidge. There are lots of 
things a man can do better’n a woman.” 

‘‘ I know,” Ella admitted sadly. 

Never mind,” said Mrs Goosey soothingly. 
“You may as well give your money to tradesmen 
as spend it on things you can neither use nor wear. 
I sometimes wish the whole roof would blow off our 
’ouse so’s Tom could ’ave something to spend ’ is 
money on instead of pesterin’ me to dress up like 
the fashionable ladies in Kettering.” 

Ella did not tell Mrs Goosey that she lived in mor- 
tal terror lest her money should not last the year 
originally assigned to it. Yet that was the simple 
truth. Ella’s financial arrangements had the merit, 
unusual in financial affairs, of extreme simplicity. 
She had subtracted the year’s rent and initial out- 
lay from her capital sum and divided the remainder 
into twelve equal parts. She discovered that these 
monthly portions did not cover her expenditure. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


133 

The discovery was all the more terrible as she had 
hoped to have a monthly margin for unforeseen 
contingencies. She had a sickening feeling, some- 
where beneath her heart, as often as she remem- 
bered that bills which certain tradesmen obstinately 
refused to furnish monthly were accumulating. 
And she recalled the almost forgotten fact that her 
father had sent out his bills half-yearly. Presu- 
mably Dr Austin would do the same thing. She 
simply refused to attempt to count up how often 
the doctor had come to visit Mabel Fielding. 

Dr Austin was a superlatively busy man. His 
practice embraced not only the town but a con- 
siderable area of the country as well. Necessity 
as well as temperament therefore obliged him to 
make good use of his time. In ordinary cases he 
came and went like a whirlwind or a tornado. It 
was said in the town that as soon as his car was 
heard in the street the patient must at once put out 
his tongue or the doctor would miss it. It was 
admitted that when the illness was serious he re- 
mained minutes instead of seconds ; and every one 
acknowledged that in the sick room the tornado 
died down momentarily to a gentle zephyr. With 
Mabel he had formerly remained as long as fifteen 
minutes ; now he seldom exceeded as many seconds. 
It was a sure sign of progress. 

Ella was surprised one day when, after a cursory 
examination of his patient, the doctor expressed 
a wish to see Ella herself privately. She accom- 
panied him to the drawing-room with some trep- 
idation. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


134 

“ Your charge is going on very well,” he re- 
marked, probably to reassure Ella. She ought 
to be pottering about the garden in a day or two.” 

Ella expressed her delight at the prospect. 

“ She will be quite competent to look after her- 
self,” the doctor continued. In fact she will pre- 
fer being left to her own devices.” 

Ella was pleased and said so. 

‘‘ That means that you will have a good deal of 
time on your hands,” the doctor asserted. 

Ella admitted that the deduction was logical. 

“ I don’t know what you think about it,” said 
the doctor, quite gravely, but I think you ought 
to try to make a good use of it.” 

Ella opened her eyes very wide. If the vicar 
had talked to her like this she would not have been 
surprised. It was his trade. But it was surely 
unusual for a doctor to turn moralist and preach on 
redeeming the time. She remembered vaguely 
that an American essayist of to-day had said 
something about the younger generation kicking 
in the panels of the doors in the old houses, making 
a hellish racket for a while, and finally becoming 
reformers to save a perishing race from damnation. 
She thought that the essayist referred to new 
dramatists like Wedekind. But perhaps new doc- 
tors also claimed the seats of the bygone mighty 
and preached their version of New Life. All the 
same she hoped that Dr Austin would not go too 
far. She anxiously awaited his next utterance. 

‘‘ The obvious thing to do,” he continued while 
Ella measured his every word, ‘‘ is to tell me to 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 135 

mind my own business. You won’t do that how- 
ever. Therefore I can have my say. I have got 
into the way of interfering with the people about 
here. I have done so because they don’t appear 
to me to be very capable. On the other hand it is 
simply because you are capable that I am inter- 
fering in your business. I have seen your work 
with Mabel Fielding. It’s good. I want to say, 
and I hope I won’t offend you, that you ought not 
to waste your time and your talents on the petty 
affairs that occupy most of the women here. That’s 
all. Good morning.” 

A few aays after the doctor had delivered his 
homily Mabel Fielding came downstairs. She 
looked as fragile as a piece of porcelain and was 
almost as silent. She shrank from meeting even 
Mrs Danesforcl and soon became as fond of the 
walled garden as Jack Challenor himself. Ella 
certainly had more time on her hands, but she 
did not see, as yet, how to employ it profitably. 

And yet it had become necessary for her either 
to make more money, or to interfere seriously with 
her mother’s pleasure. As the season advanced 
Mrs Danesford threw herself more and more into the 
social activities of Midlington. She had frequent 
tea parties at the vicarage, she accepted more and 
more positions of honour, she enjoyed herself 
hugely. Ella said to herself that it would be a 
grievous sin to curtail her enjoyment. She would 
do almost anything rather than that. 

Ella began to have sleepless nights as well as 
worrying days. The resulting black lines round her 


136 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

eyes did not escape the vigilant glance of Mrs. 
Goosey. 

You’ve just got to tell me wot’s troublin’ 
you,” the elder lady said, one day, in her most 
emphatic tone. 

It’s nothing,” Ella replied. ‘‘ Nothing at all.” 

“ That’s all my eye and Betsy Martin,” said 
Mrs Goosey. Nothin’ at all doesn’t make a 
’ealthy girl dark under the eyes and take all the 
colour out of her cheeks. I’m not goin’ to move a 
step from where I am until I know. So that’s that.” 

I don’t see why you should be troubled by 
my ” 

Troubled ! ” interrupted Mrs Goosey. The 
trouble to me is that you’re keepin’ it to yourself. 
I don’t think it can be love, because Mr Raynham’s 

ready any minute Good Lord ! you can’t 

surely ’ave been and fell in love with the doctor. 
Your father was a doctor and it may run in the 
blood. And ’e’s so busy he can’t ” 

‘‘ No, no,” cried Ella. It isn’t anything of 
that kind at all.” 

‘‘ Thank goodness for that. Girls sometimes 
do fall in love with the most extraordinary creatures 
of men. There was Annie Staines, as fine a girl 
as ever stepped, and she went clean crazy about a 

poor lanky but that’s neither ’ere nor there. 

If it ain’t love, wot is it ? ” 

‘‘ It’s money,” Ella replied. “ I am afraid my 
income this year is not going to cover my expendi- 
ture.” 

Mrs Goosey laughed loudly. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


137 

Is that all ? ’’ she asked when her amuse- 
ment had subsided. “ I thought it was somethink 
serious. To think that anybody, ’specially you, 
is bothered about money. Well, I never heard of 
such a thing in my life. How much do you want ” ? 

The good lady raised her skirt and produced from 
a huge pocket, hung ronnd her waist, a wallet al- 
most as large as a music case. She was opening 
this with feverish haste when Ella interrupted her. 

I cannot take your money.” 

Wot ? Why can’t you take it ? I’ve got 
plenty.” 

It required quite half an hour to convince Mrs 
Goosey that practical Christianity, such as she 
wished to practise, was neither usual nor possible 
in these degenerate days. She was bitterly disap- 
pointed and shed hot tears because Ella would not 
take a very obvious path away from her difficulties. 

“ What I must do,” said Ella when Mrs. Goosey 
had reluctantly returned her wallet to her pocket, 
“ is to make money somehow. I can’t for the life 
of me see a way to do so.” 

There’s one way,” said Mrs Goosey without 
hesitation. 

What is it ? ” Ella asked eagerly. 

‘‘ Take in lodgers.” 

Oh, I couldn’t do that I ” 

It’s wot the women do in Kett’ring when 
they’re ’ard up.” 

I don’t think I could,” Ella moaned. 

‘‘ Well, I’ll tell you wot we’ll do,” said Mrs 
Goosey buoyantly. I’ll ’ave the lodgers in my 

K 


138 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

’ouse. There’s ’caps of rooms and two maids 
eatin’ their ’eads orf for want of work, not to speak 
about myself as is gettin’ too fat for anythink. 
You can come through the ’edge now and again 
just to see ’ow they’re gettin’ on. And I’ll ’and 
over the money every Saturday night. Now I 
call that a splendid plan. It’ll do us both good. 
Better than that, I can get one to start with next 
week. She was askin’ me, only a day or two ago, 
to find rooms for ’er as soon as possible.” 

To Mrs Goosey’s extreme amazement Ella would 
not adopt this splendid plan. There could be no 
doubt about the girl’s gratitude, but Mrs Goosey 
simply could not understand why her offer could 
not be accepted. 

“ The ways of the gentry are beyond me,” she 
said with a deep sigh. I know’d all along that 
Tom and Alec might as well try to make hens into 
cuckoos as me into a lady. I’m always puttin’ 
my foot into it and one day I’ll sure get it bit off. 
Before I give up the papers I used to read about 
real gentry, land-owners and folk like that, takin’ 
people’s money and everythink else they could 
grab. And ’ere’s you, as is a lady if ever there was 
one, refusin’ to let me ’elp you in a way that 
wouldn’t cost me a penny. The onreasonableness 
of the gentry is wot gets over me. Tom says as 
they’ll take other people’s money at horse racin’ 
and card playin’ and stock brokerin’ and tell all 
their friends about their cleverness, but you won’t 
even let me keep a lodger for you. I wish I know’d 
how to play bridge. Alec tried to learn me, but 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


139 

my ’ead wouldn’t stand it. I could do it if I was 
dummy every time, but that was breakin’ the 
rules or something.” 

After a good deal of discussion it was decided 
that, if Miss Minchin, the lady who had applied 
to Mrs Goosey for help in finding rooms, were 
agreeable, Ella would receive her as a paying- 
guest. Out of consideration for Mrs Danesford the 
adjective was to be kept out of the description. 

Details were still under discussion when Mrs 
Goosey’s housemaid arrived with an urgent mes- 
sage. Miss Minchin had called to see Mrs Goosey 
at once. It was providential, Mrs Goosey de- 
clared. And it was also most clearly the intention 
of providence that Ella should accompany her to 
The Gables. Mrs Goosey boisterously overcame 
Ella’s scruples and hesitancy and carried her off 
in triumph. 

Miss Minchin, to whom Ella was introduced, was 
rather striking in appearance. She was remarkably 
tall and remarkably thin. In her youth she had 
probably been pretty, even handsome. Time, 
the baggage, had not dealt kindly with her. While 
her face had shrunk, with her figure, her nose had 
increased both in size and in colour. A plentiful 
supply of powder, rather carelessly applied, toned 
down the colour, but nothing could affect the size. 
Her eyes were small and piercingly bright. The 
effect of two beady eyes looking out over a promi- 
nent nose produced rather a weird impression. 
Fortunately custom stales the alarming result of 
time’s idiosyncrasies, and Miss Minchin was start- 


140 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

ling only to those who were unfamiliar with her 
appearance. 

“ My dear Mrs Goosey,” the visitor exclaimed in 
a voice that carried well, it is more than kind of 
you to come to me at once. I need you badly. I am 
in a most dreadful quandary. It is perfectly shock- 
ing for one in my state of health to be subjected 
to such treatment. It is cruel, positively cruel.” 

‘‘ But I have done nothin’ to you,” gasped Mrs 
Goosey, her eyes staring. Unless it is crool to 
try to find a place ” 

‘‘ No, no,” Miss Minchin interrupted. You 
are quite mistaken. You have always been kind- 
ness itself. Always. I was referring to my land- 
lady. I may say my late landlady, because I have 
left her. In fact I had to leave her. She refused 
to keep me an hour longer.” 

‘‘Turned you out, did she ?” said Mrs Goosey. 
“ My gracious 1 Some folks ’ave pluck.” 

“ Pluck, Mrs Goosey ? Pluck ? You cannot 
mean it. At all events not quite as you might be 
understood.” 

“ I mean it takes a bit o’ doin’.” 

“ Yes, I see. You mean that a lady would never 
do it.” 

“ Something like that.” 

“ I thought so. But what am I to do ? I wired 
to my brother and have just received his reply. 
He says ‘ Do the best you can.’ As if I shouldn’t 
do that in any case. He’s a very busy man and his 
wife is extremely selfish. However, that’s his 
affair not mine,” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 141 

As it ’appens,” said Mrs Goosey in a business- 
like tone, I’ve been talkin’ it over . with Miss 
Danesford ’ere.” 

‘‘ That’s very kind of you, I’m sure.” 

‘‘ She ’as the vicarage on ’er ’ands ; I mean she 
has took the vicarage, furnished, for a year. There 
arc more rooms in it than she needs just at present. 
And as you’re dead stuck for somewhere to lay 
your ’ead she might take you in, for a while at any 
rate. Until you’ve time to look round you, like. 
And on condition that you behave yourself as a 
lady should.” 

“ How good of you ! ” cried Miss Minchin, turn- 
ing to Ella. I never dreamt of such good fortune. 
I stopped at a vicarage once. Let me see — it was 
just before I went to — no ! that was a doctor’s. 
I forget when it was. But I remember that I was 
very happy for a while. The vicar’s wife was 
charming — just a little pernickety, perhaps, about 
her furniture — but I didn’t care for the vicar. He 
was a silent, morose man and developed a habit of 
running from room to room in the house and even 
out into a rough kind of shelter in the garden. He 
had no social gifts whatever. A good preacher, 
but out of the pulpit — impossible. I’m told that 
many parsons are like that. It’s a pity. One of 
God’s greatest gifts is the gift of conversation and 
I shall never cease to be grateful that it was be- 
stowed on me. To converse, to exchange ideas, 
to indulge in quips, to bring out of the mind trea- 
sures old and new — wLat could be more lovely ? 

I remember meeting a most delightful man once at 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


142 

a boarding-house in — let me see — Minehead, was 
it ? Or Shanklin ? No, it couldn’t have been there. 
Perhaps it was Cromer. Anyhow it doesn’t mat- 
ter. It is the person that matters, not the place ; 
the picture and not the frame. He had the greatest 
gift of conversation I ever met in a man, I have 
thought many times how delightful it would have 
been to have married such a one. Delightful ! 
Fascinating ! Thrilling I He and I sat one evening 
in the lounge and asked riddles from eight o’clock 
to half-past ten. I was on my mettle ; so was he. 
I called upon all my resources and I knew he did 
the same. The atmosphere became electric. Un- 
der such stimulating circumstances the very best 
responds to the call. I was positively brilliant. 
All the others listened spell bound. It was an 
intellectual treat. But I must not indulge in 
reminiscences. Not now. Another time perhaps.” 

Miss Minchin’s voice rose and fell. So did her 
body. She gesticulated freely. She rolled her 
eyes. She paused, for dramatic effect, before the 
final word in a sentence. In short, she employed 
every device, save one, of an English Madame 
Recamier. Ella wondered whether she was sane. 

Miss Danesford might like to know a little 
about your ’abits and such-like,” interposed the 
practical Mrs Goosey. ‘‘ I mean wot you like to 
eat an’ ” 

‘‘ Plain, wholesome food, my dear Miss Danes- 
ford. There was a time when I loved entrees 
and made dishes and delicacies of all sorts. But I 
know well that these things are no longer possible. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 143 

The cost is simply prohibitive. Occasionally, of 
course, one still expects them but only as a treat. 
Fortunately I was brought up in such a sane, 
healthy way that my appetite is far from capricious. 
I have no fads about my food. Once, indeed, I 
was prevailed upon by a doctor — he afterwards 
went mad — to become a vegetarian. It didn’t 
suit me in the least. Although I had quantities, 
1 went down and down and down. Fortunately I 
gave it up in time. But only just. I was really 
ill for several weeks and required considerable 
feeding up. That was the only time in my whole 
experience when I listened to a food faddist. 
Never again. As the man said about champagne, 
one gets no forrader on vegetables only. They are 
very nice and very wholesome with other things, 
but by themselves they are a delusion. Just 
plain, wholesome food. Miss Danesford, with the 
variety that is the spice of appetite as well as 
of life.” 

Ella had a headache long before all the details 
were settled. She returned to the vicarage with 
lagging footsteps. All the way she prayed that 
Miss Minchin would talk less. It was a dreadful 
thing to be in such need of money that she could 
actually contemplate living in the same house with 
a woman whose tongue was a continual rattle. 

Dr Austin heard from Mrs Goosey that Ella had 
agreed to receive Miss Minchin as a paying-guest. 
He awaited the coming of Sydney Raynham, that 
evening, with more impatience than usual. 

‘‘ I say, Raynham,” he burst out, the moment 


144 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

his friend appeared. You remember my lecture 
to Ella Danesford the other day ? ’’ 

I remember your account of it.” 

She has taken it to heart. By Jove, Raynham, 
I ought to have been a parson.” 

‘‘ In what way has she ” 

‘‘ She’s going to make herself useful by looking 
after old Minchin.” 

The devil she is ! ” 

The greatest old Tartar in England, bar none. 
She’ll talk her head off. She’ll eat her out of house 
and home. And she’ll turn the whole house into a 
pig-sty. It’s a scream.” 

“ It’s a damned shame ! ” 

It’ll do her all the good in the world, my boy. 
If she can put up with Minchin she’ll be able to put 
up with anybody. As you know, nobody can toler- 
ate her for more than a month. She has been in all 
kinds of places and no place for long. The little 
butterfly, Ella, is going to have a taste of real life.” 

“ Damn you and your real life ! ” exclaimed 
Raynham, completely out of temper. You in- 
fernal drug-mixers see nothing but the diseased and 
the abnormal. It is you, and the likes of you, 
that know nothing about real life. This poor girl 

is bound to be tortured by ” 

“ Better marry her and take her out of it,” the 
doctor suggested with a smile. 

“ I wish I could.” 

“ What’s to prevent you ? ” 

‘‘ Ella herself. She doesn’t care a rap about 
men and ” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


H5 

Fudge ! ” the doctor interrupted. Every 
healthy girl does. It’s nature. She, at all events, 
is healthy.” 

“ She is, at present. Will she remain so, with 
first of all a neurasthenic and then — Miss Minchin? ” 
We’ll see.” 


CHAPTER X 


E LLA’S education had been what is called 
interrupted by the death of her father. 
But Ella’s mind was not of the class that 
endures interruption for long. During the years 
when she worked in the munition factory her mind 
had developed as well as her body. Her mother 
had been careful to provide nourishing food for the 
body ; Ella had herself purveyed food for the 
mind. The libraries in Darchester had been aston- 
ishingly good. They had even supplied new books 
instead of digging up from the cellars, as good 
enough for mental food during trying times, 
ancient skeletons of books long since dead, buried 
and forgotten. 

She was therefore fairly familiar with the theories 
of Freud and Jung and the science of psycho- 
analysis. In her youth and ignorance she thought 
Mr Freud greatly overrated and psycho-analysis 
much overdone. As an example of her temerity, 
she believed that Beresford would be a greater 
novelist, and even a more helpful writer, if he could 
be persuaded to kick psycho-analysis out of his 
study, or better still, out of his world. 

No living thing is thoroughly consistent ; and 
even machines, as every owner of a motor-car 

146 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 147 

knows, sometimes forget or abuse their principles. 
In spite of Ella’s scorn of psycho-analysis, she sat 
down, half an hour before she expected Miss 
Minchin’s arrival, and deliberately placed her own 
mind under the microscope, keeping a special look 
out round the fringes for the sub-conscious. 

Why did she not at once tell her mother that 
they were living beyond their means ? Was she 
afraid to ask her mother to retrench ? Or was she 
anxious about her mother’s health if it were found 
necessary to give up half a score of social activities ? 
Ella admitted to herself that retrenchment was 
at least feasible ; that her mother’s health was not 
likely to suffer because, if she were told the truth, 
she would face the situation with the same courage 
as she had faced worse ; and that, in short, her 
mother, while responsible for the beginning of the 
adventure, had surprisingly little to do with its 
continuance. 

Was it sheer stubbornness ? Had she inherited 
certain mulish instincts from her ancestors which 
compelled her to go on in the teeth of reason and 
common sense ? No. It was not quite that, 
although she certainly did not relish the idea of 
yielding to mere reason. 

What was it then ? Seeing that she was dealing 
honestly with herself, and indeed almost scientifi- 
cally, she was obliged to admit that Jack Challenor 
had something to do with her irrational conduct. 
He had prophesied disaster and she was determined 
that there would be no disaster. He had con- 
fidently predicted bankruptcy ; there was going 


148 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

to be no bankruptcy. He had even declared that 
she would be sorry that she ever saw Midlington ; 
she might be sorry, but he would not know it. 

Ella was proceeding, in a logical and scientific 
manner, to ask herself difficult questions about 
Jack Challenor when the housemaid’s arrival put 
an end to her brief incursion into the foggy realm 
of self-analysis. The maid clasped her hands 
nervously and bit her lip until it was red as a peony 
when she announced that a lady had arrived in a 
carriage and wished to see Miss Danesford. Ella 
hastened to the door. 

The carriage was an ancient victoria, and the 
lady was Miss Minchin. At first she was not visible, 
although her voice could be heard. But when Ella 
moved a little way towards the horse her hat came 
into view. In fact both Miss Minchin and the 
driver of the conveyance had the appearance of 
flotsam in a sea of luggage. They appeared and 
disappeared, according to the place wLere Ella 
stood. Miss Minchin in the trough of the sea and 
the driver on the crest of a wave. 

A huge iron-bound trunk, a deck-chair, a hip- 
bath, and a number of miscellaneous parcels 
wrapped in newspapers were removed first. Then 
came Miss Minchin herself and two attache cases 
on which she had been sitting. The abstraction of 
a wicker couch and mattress, together with a rug 
and three or four cushions, allowed the rest of the 
luggage to collapse into a chaotic mass in the 
carriage. A cylindrical copper hot-water bottle 
rolled on to the path and was followed by a sauce- 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


149 

pan, a kettle, and a petrol-tin. Some of these were 
obviously the overflow from a large packing-case, 
without a lid, which contained cooking-utensils 
jugs, coffee-pot and sundries. When a camp-stool, 
a bundle of umbrellas and sunshades, and a few 
more parcels were retrieved it was possible to 
extricate the driver by the removal of a wicker 
dress-basket, two huge hat-boxes, and some other 
parcels. The last of Miss Minchin’s belongings to 
emerge were a large and rusty tray, two oil stoves, 
a radiator, and another dress-basket. The whole 
made a formidable heap upon the vicarage gravel. 

Miss Minchin sailed into the vicarage drawing- 
room like a tragedy queen. She prided herself 
upon her queenliness, and she loved tragedy. 
She held herself as erect as Queen Elizabeth and 
looked down her large nose as austerely as Mrs 
Siddons. The effect of her entrance was a little 
marred by two details of her dressing : the longer 
of the two skirts that she wore happened to be 
underneath the shorter, and her underclothing 
would intrude upon that part of her neck and chest 
which she meant to display to an admiring public. 

A chaste and beautiful apartment,” she re- 
marked after a glance round the room. I know 
I shall like being here. I can always tell in a 
moment. Something within me either responds 
to the outward circumstances or else revolts against 
them. It is very strange. I sometimes think 
I must be possessed of occult powers that I have 
never developed.” 

Won’t you sit down ? ” Ella asked, 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


ISO 

‘‘ But my boxes ? Would you mind ? And — 
er — if you would pay the man. I will pay you back 
immediately. You may give him threepence more 
than the fare. You see he’s only Errington’s 
driver. If I paid him myself he would doubtless 
expect sixpence. I find it an admirable plan to 
pay as often as possible through a third person.” 

Ella paid the fare and gave the driver a shilling. 
She superintended the carrying up of Miss Minchin’s 
numerous boxes and packages. When she returned 
to Miss Minchin she found her stretched at full 
length on the chesterfield. 

“ I must rest a few minutes before I go to my 
room,” the recumbent lady announced. ‘‘ To rest 
well is half the battle. And this is quite a com- 
fortable sofa. I can foresee that it will be known 
as Miss Minchin’s seat. It is remarkable how 
different people in a house choose different seats. 
Quite remarkable. I must admit that I have not 
always been so fortunate as here. I shall have it 
moved, just a trifle, a mere inch or two, so that I 
shall be able to see the tree without twisting my 
neck. Not now. Afterwards. I am quite sure 
that in a very short time I shall have everything 
exactly to my liking.” 

Miss Minchin had been brought up in days and 
under circumstances that made women parasites, 
unless they were compelled by marriage or loss of 
means to use their faculties and powers. Her 
parents had been fairly well-to-do ; the dear girls 
would consequently never be obliged to degrade 
themselves by working for their living. She had 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


151 

been well and carefully educated. In other words, 
she had been taught at home by incompetent and 
underpaid governesses to behave as a lady ; to 
despise all who worked for a living, including the 
poor preceptresses themselves ; and to play on a 
piano the fireworks composed by Sidney Smith. 
When the governesses had done their best, or their 
worst, she had been sent to a boarding-school, 
celebrated for turning out perfect ladies, to be 
finished. One of her relaxations, in winter, had 
been to go to a theatre where she wept copiously 
over the woes of an unreal heroine, while a real 
coachman sat without shivering on the box of the 
waiting carriage. When she grew older she hated 
children and could bear them near her only when 
they were being punished. She would interfere 
with a man who used a whip to a cart-horse, but 
she applied the lash vigorously to servants and 
other human beings who were obliged to work 
for her. 

Very few people even now have a clear idea of 
what they wish to accomplish by education. Some 
say that they must equip young people, as far as 
they can, to play a useful part in the world. Others 
assert that they must train the mind so that it will 
be bright, strong, capable of discharging any labour. 
Yet others affirm, sometimes with an apology for 
their hardihood, that they must not only train 
the mind to be useful but also develop the soul to 
be perceptive of beauty, nobility, truth. Accord- 
ing to any one of these theories Miss Minchin was 
a failure. She was as useless as a barnacle ; her 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


152 

mind was as cloudy as a winter sky ; and her soul 
had never awakened from its first sleep. 

In her youth Miss Minchin had waited for the 
prince charming of her only books. He had never 
appeared. Having missed him, she missed every- 
thing. Her relations, when her father and mother 
had died, did not want her. She went out into a 
world that tolerated her only because she could 
spend a certain amount of money. She had no 
resources in herself. She became a parasite. 

When she came to the vicarage at Midlington, 
Miss Minchin instinctively recognized a suitable 
and Heaven-sent host. She fastened on Ella at 
the very beginning. By a kind of mental osmosis 
she absorbed, apparently quite independently of 
her will, the girl’s vitality. Trained nurses and 
women of experience would have known how to 
rid themselves of the pest. Miss Minchin had met 
such women in former days and frequently com- 
plained about them. But Ella was young and 
inexperienced. She became a too willing victim. 

At first Ella perceived only the outward and 
visible things of her guest. The chief of these 
was her enormous appetite for food. At each of 
the stated meals she ate much more than Ella 
and her mother combined ; but, in addition, she 
carried quantities of food from the table or from 
the larder to consume in her own room. She would 
twirl a plate of bread and butter round with a skill 
that showed much practice in order to obtain the 
slice of bread with most butter ; when, at her 
suggestion, sandwiches were added to the tea-table 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


IS3 

menu, she would always open those she took in order 
to see how much they contained ; she frequently 
made her way to the kitchen, if Ella were out of 
the way, to see what food was provided for Mabel 
Fielding and to obtain from the maid part of the 
invalid’s good things. She would waylay the 
butcher’s boy or the fishmonger’s boy to anticipate 
the joys of to-morrow. Food was a frequent topic 
of conversation with her and she delighted to read 
aloud anybody’s advice about feeding up. 

Miss Minchin, like Edax in Lamb’s essay, was 
not ignorant of her abnormal appetite. She ex- 
plained it, or apologized for it, variously. One 
time she said that the brain wasted more quickly 
than any other part of the body and therefore 
anyone, like herself, with a bright and active brain 
required more food than other people. On other 
occasions she invoked a particular form of the 
doctrine of transmigration of souls ; she must 
have been a Japanese in some previous incarnation 
because she was so fond of rice pudding ; she must 
have been Irish, although she hoped not, at some 
other time because she was so fond of potatoes ; 
her love of spaghetti, of sausages, and of garlic, 
suggested Italian, German, and French incarnations. 
Ella thought that she might easily have accepted 
the full doctrine of metempsychosis and believed 
herself, on the same evidence, a lion, a boa-con- 
strictor, an ostrich, and indeed most of the animals 
that Noah took into the ark. 

Almost a w'eek passed before Ella saw Miss 
Minchin in her bedroom. Ella never forgot it. 

L 


154 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

Balzac’s tremendous description of the curiosity- 
shop m La Peaii de Chagrin proves that the author 
of the Comddie humaine could have done justice 
to Miss Minchin’s bedroom. Ella could not, partly 
because the dressing-table so fascinated her that 
she was unable to do any kind of justice to the rest 
of the furnishings. She certainly noticed the two 
gas-rings, connected to wall brackets by india- 
rubber tubes, supporting a steaming kettle and a 
bubbling saucepan. She noticed a great stain, like 
a crude map of Africa, on the carpet, caused no 
doubt by the upsetting of one of the numerous 
cooking-utensils heaped round the gas-rings. And 
she remembered the maid’s complaint about Miss 
Minchin’s constant demands for hot water, when she 
saw one large hot-water bottle on the bed and 
another on the pillow. But the dressing-table 
impressed itself on her memory for all time. 

The usual paraphernalia of a dressing-table had 
been pushed back, close to the mirror, to give room 
for Miss Minchin’s particular additions. There 
were two glasses of water, one with a picture post- 
card surmounting it to prevent mistakes in the 
night, the other containing her artificial teeth. 
Between the glasses were a rectangle of butter- 
scotch, half denuded of its silver covering, a small 
pile of Rowntree’s clear gums, a cube of sugar, and 
three or four biscuits. Following the marked glass 
of water came a chlorodyne tablet, broken into small 
pieces, a plate of bread and butter, a bar of choco- 
late, two cups containing milk, and a packet of 
Black Cat cigarettes. Next came a pair of bed- 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


I5S 

room slippers, a box of matches, and a flash-light 
lamp. At the extreme end stood a bottle of sal- 
volatile, a flask containing brandy, a scent-spray 
with several ribbons pinned round its waist, and a 
box of pills. 

Miss Minchin was preparing for bed and informed 
Ella that she could quite well express her wishes 
while she went on with her preparations. As she 
gave her orders for breakfast, which she always 
had in bed, and minute instructions about the 
ritual to be observed, she placed a wad of cotton 
wool, previously steeped in olive oil, in each ear 
and fastened them there with ear-caps that tied 
under her chin. She then wrapped a light silk 
scarf round her head, and over this a woollen shawl. 
She was now, she said, perfectly comfortable and 
impervious to sound ; she would sleep peacefully 
without any risk of being disturbed. Ella withdrew 
before she proceeded from the head to the rest of 
the body. 

Ella was anxious to please her paying-guest. 
Miss Minchin was not slow to perceive the anxiety, 
and made ever greater demands upon Ella’s time 
and purse. When reading tired her eyes, she liked 
to be entertained ; and she was always ready to 
suggest dishes for future meals. 

Mrs. Goosey soon began to look anxious. In a 
few days she became cross. That was Mrs Goosey’s 
way : when she was worried about anything or 
anybody her temper became crusty. At length 
she took Ella severely to task about her conduct as 
a landlady. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


156 

It seems to me you know no more’n a baby 
about keepin’ lodgers,” she announced categorically. 

“ 'What do I do that is wrong ? ” Ella asked 
meekly. 

“ Everythink,” was Mrs Goosey’s uncompromis- 
ing reply. ’Frinstans why do you allow Miss 
Minchin so much ’ot water in summer time and 
the coal so scarce ? ” 

“ She likes to have a hot-water bottle, or even 
two, ready if the night should be cold.” 

‘‘ Of course she does ! And she’d get them any- 
where she stayed. Maids are always runnin’ about 
in lodging-houses with ’ot-water bottles under their 
arms waiting for cold nights. Ain’t she got bed- 
socks ? ” 

“ I think so.” 

‘‘ Then let ’er wear ’em. And ’ow often ’as she 
a ’ot bath ? ” 

“ Every day.” 

“ With coal the price it is and scarce at that. 
Mrs Ballard as lived next door to me in ’Awthorne 
Road ’ad a teacher from the ’Igh School as wanted 
a ’ot bath every day. Said she couldn’t live with- 
out it, she did. When she ’ad to pay sixpence a 
time for it she ’ad her bath on Saturdays the same 
as everybody else. It’s all to give trouble, all that 
bathing. I’ve no patience with it.” 

Ella had nothing to say in reply. 

“ Then she’s always sprawlin’ on the sofa, when 
she ain’t sprawlin’ in the ’ammock, like one of them 
there sodgers you see in alablaster in churches. 
Don’t you ever want to lie down and rest ? Or 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 157 

doesn^t your mother ? And when she comes out 
’aven’t I seen you runnin’ in and out like a dog at 
a fair fetchin’ cushions and rugs and specs and 
papers and God knows wot else ? It’s enough to 
give you them there various veins people get 
through bein’ too much on their legs. Let ’er do 
’er own fetchin’ and carryin’ and she’ll soon do with 
less. It’s a good plan for everybody as well as 
lodgers.” 

Ella agreed that the plan would help to simplify 
life considerably. 

“ There’s her eatin’ between meals,” Mrs Goosey 
went on, warming to her subject. Unless your 
maid’s a terrible liar. Miss Minchin eats at every 
meal about as much as three men. And that 
doesn’t satisfy ’er. Bless you ! she must ’avc 
plates o’ this and parcels o’ that all day long and 
most of the night as well. She never gives ’er 
stummick a rest. Talk about an eight hours’ day I 
It’ll go on strike some time, and Lord ’elp us all 
if it does. She’s bad enough when she’s well ; wot 
will she be when she’s ill ? I never could deny our 
Alec ’is bread and jam and such-like when he 
wanted ’em. But childer’s different. And she 
ain’t got eatin’ diabetes neither, because I asked 
the doctor. I made him tell me, too, for all he 
never talks about ’is patients. She’s greedy, that 
wot she is, and the eats so much because you are 
soft enough to give it to ’er.” 

‘‘ What can I do ? ” Ella asked mournfully. 

‘‘ Do ? Do wot all sensible landladies do. Give 
’er reg’lar meals and let ’er buy everythink else 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


158 

extry. My neighbour, wot I told you about, ’ad 
a food hog once in ’er ’ouse ; she was for ever 
sinkin’ between meals, just like a char-lady, or else 
goin’ so faint that she had to lie down. Poor Mrs 
Ballard, for all she took in lodgers, was as kind- 
’earted a soul as ever breathed the breath of life. 
She wouldn’t let ’er sink, as I advised ’er ; and she 
wouldn’t ’ave ’er faintin’ about on the floor, which 
I don’t believe for one moment she would ’ave done. 
So she gave ’er notice and took a p’liceman wot paid 
reg’lar, ’ad ’earty meals, and never asked for a 
thing between ’em. Men’s better than women for 
that as well as for the trouble they give. But I’m 
overrunnin’ my tale. The poor sinkin’ creature 
went to Mrs Lewis, wot’s Welsh an’ can take care 
o’ number one, in the next street. She got every- 
think she asked for and thought she was in clover. 
She even told Mrs Ballard how much better the food 
and the cookin’ was in ’er new lodgings. But she 
fainted away without any pretendin’ when she got 
one thing she never asked for — a bill for every 
hextry wrote down in black and white the same 
as she would ’ave got at a hotel. It cured ’er of 
the hextry ’abit. More’n that, she saved pounds 
in doctor’s bills. Dr Austin, when I got ’im by 
’imself, ’ad to admit that he’s always givin’ Miss 
Minchin pills and stuff for overeatin’.” 

Ella was afraid that she could not interfere with 
Miss Minchin’s appetite even for extras. 

‘‘ Worst of all is the way she keeps you to ’erself,” 
resumed Mrs Goosey after she had expressed her 
considered opinion that Ella would never in this 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 159 

world make a good landlady. If I ’adn’t sent 
’er over to taste Ada’s junket she’d ’ave you now 
and I’d be watchin’ you from my bedroom winder 
through Alec’s spy-glasses. Just tell me this an’ 
I’ll ask you no more : Did you ever ’ear of a land- 
lady wot sat all day with ’er lodger ? Certainly 
I knew about one, and that was the very Mrs 
Ballard as I said took the p’liceman. She sat a 
lot with ’im when he wasn’t on ’is beat and read ’im 
bits out of the Daily Mail and the Christian ^Erald, 
But then she was a widow with three childer and 
tired of keepin’ lodgers.” 

“ But Miss Minchin is not a lodger,” Ella re- 
monstrated. 

‘‘ Wot is she then ? ” 

‘‘ A paying guest.” 

Wot’s the difference ? ” 

“ A lodger, I imagine, docs not live with her 
family but has her own rooms, whereas a guest — ” 
“ I calls ’er a lodger,” Mrs Goosey interrupted 
impatiently, “ and a lodger she is. It’s all very 
fine to change the names of things so as to make 
’em sound grand ; but changin’ ’er name don’t 
change Miss Minchin. Why she came to me the 
other day with a long rigmarole about a pig. She 
’ad met this ’ere pig down the road somewheres and 
stopped the driver to ask a lot of questions. You 
know she’s always interferin’ with wot doesn’t 
concern ’er and she’s worse since she came ’ere. 
Seems to think because she lives in a vicarage she 
can interfere as much as a parson. She wanted to 
know where this pig was goin’, and wot for, and ’ow 


i6o ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

far it was, and if the poor thing wasn’t tired and 
needed a rest. When she ’eard it was to be killed 
she squealed as if it was ’erself and ’eld up ’er ’ands 
like a stuffed himage. Then she asked somethink 
about a new way of killin’ pigs without ’urtin them, 
but the man said he stuck ’em the same as ’is 
father ’ad done before ’im. So she came to me 
to ask if I would go an’ tell the p’lice.” 

Did you go ? ” 

Did i go ? Wot do you take me for ? I asked 
’cr if she ever ate bacon or pOrk, knowin’ as she 
was fond o’ both. Then I advised ’er to go ’ome 
and think a little more about women, meanin’ you, 
and a little less about pigs, meanin’ ’erself.” 

‘‘ Sometimes I am quite fond of her,” said Ella. 

“ Now that’s queer,” replied Mrs Goosey, chang- 
ing her tone, “ because, to tell you the truth, some- 
times so am I. When she forgets about ’erself, 
and the pigs, and the dicky-birds, she can be as 
nice as most people. My word, women are strange 
creatures ! So are men for that matter. They’re 
all a mix up of good, bad and indifferent. I think 
maybe Miss Minchin’s a bit off ’er ’ead when she’s 
so blessed selfish, and on it again when she’s nice. 
I wish Dr Austin, when he’s finished with ’er 
stummick, would give ’er somethink to keep ’er 
on it all the time. Failin’ that I wish she were more 
on than off, instead of more off than on.” 


CHAPTER XI 


I N simpler times than ours it was said that one 
half of the population knows not how the 
other half lives. Nowadays hardly anybody 
knows how anybody else lives. In fact, try as one 
will, it is often impossible to find out how the people 
next door live. Industrious and conscientious 
novelists sometimes go on the stage, if they can find 
a manager who will take them, in order to find out 
how actresses live ; or set traps for moles, if they 
can discover where mole-traps are sold, in order to 
discover how mole-catchers live. But these well- 
meaning investigators find out only how they 
themselves live while they a e wasting their val- 
uable time on the stage or in the meadows. It is 
much better when a mill-girl or a coal miner or a 
curate writes a novel ; the world knows a little 
more about mill girls and miners and curates. 
Yet, when all is written and done, in order to know 
how a doctor lives one must be a doctor ; to know 
how a clicker lives one must be a clicker. 

There is one class of the community that is 
generally treated badly by the novelist and drama- 
tist. And that class has hitherto remained inarti- 
culate. A landlady in a book or a play, unless 
the book is by Leonard Merrick, is nearly always a 
i6i 


162 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


dishonest and worthless person. If the hero 
caters for himself, in his dark days before the sun 
of prosperity has arisen with riches on his wings, 
the landlady steals his joint, drinks his gin, and 
blames the cat. If the heroine is down to her 
last ten-shilling note, just before she marries a 
duke or discovers that she is heiress to Somebody’s 
millions, the wretched landlady eats her margarine 
and compliments the pale young thing, who nearly 
faints at the sight of food, on her healthy appetite. 
If the hero or heroine lives en famille the land- 
lady serves up again and again, in miraculous 
fashion, the same joint. And always a landlady 
cruelly and unkindly demands to be paid what is 
due to her. 

Yet no landlady has written a book. Perhaps 
no landlady has sufficient leisure. Perhaps they all 
know that they belong to a minority ; that is 
fairly obvious because no landlady is ever satisfied 
with one victim ; and minorities must count among 
their sufferings that they can be slandered with 
comparative safety. 

Ella began to sympathize with landladies and to 
dream of filling up the blank in popular literature. 
She considered, after only a week of Miss Minchin, 
that landladies were a much maligned class. After 
a fortnight she declared to herself that she knew 
now why landladies drank gin and folded their 
hands under their aprons. The gin was to help 
them to forget the unceasing chatter, and the 
hands were held under the apron lest they should 
fly at the throats of irritating boarders. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


163 

The worst feature of Ella’s new venture was that 
the profit was trifling. Miss Minchin’s gargantuan 
appetite, coupled with her powers of destruction, 
left the very slightest margin of gain in an unevent- 
ful week. And in some weeks the net result was a 
decided loss. For example. Miss Minchin smoked 
cigarettes in bed. She was not particularly careful. 
She burnt holes in the sheets, and, on one occasion, 
set fire to her eider-down quilt. These damaged 
articles, even if Miss Minchin continued to use 
them for the present, would have to be replaced 
at the end of Ella’s tenancy. The carpet was 
ruined and, in places, the floor under the carpet 
as well. The walls of her bedroom were splashed, 
not only with water but with greasy compounds 
that could only be removed with the wall-paper. 
In fact Ella saw plainly that everything Miss Min- 
chin used would have to be scrapped sooner rather 
than later and the bedroom entirely redecorated. 

Mrs Goosey was sympathetic up to a certain 
point. She now hated Miss Minchin with a ven- 
omous hatred and believed that the only possible 
place for her was an unfurnished cell in a lunatic 
asylum. But she did not think that Ella was en- 
tirely free from blame. She was far too soft- 
hearted ; she was ignorant of the first principles 
of lodging-house keeping ; and she ought to re- 
member that a lodger tried to get as much as 
possible for her money, whereas a landlady was 
obliged to give as little as possible. 

‘‘ Wot you ought ter ’ave,” said Mrs Goosey, after 
pointing out Ella’s failings and imperfections, 


i 64 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

is one of them there loonies they ’ave at Moor 
’Ouse.” 

Good gracious ! Why ? ” 

Because they ’ave to do as they’re told and 
take wot’s given ’em. Them’s the sort for you.” 

“ But I couldn’t look after a lunatic,” Ella 
gasped. 

Wot’s to ’inder you ? ” Mrs Goosey asked. 
“ They’re not all that bad. Some of ’em ’aven’t 
got any certificate for badness. They’re called 
slightly mental or somethink of that kind. Mrs 
Bagnall, ’er wot keep^ Moor ’Ouse, ’as told me all 
about ’em. She says there are thousands of ’em 
in England, nearly mad but not quite, and they 
advertise in the religious papers. You order 
them about like childer or dogs, and, if they say a 
word to you, you pack’ em off to bed without 
any supper.” 

‘‘ I couldn’t do that,” said Ella. 

I dare say not,” said Mrs Goosey scornfully. 

But ’eaps of people do. Doctors wot can’t get 
patients take ’em in and make a good thing out of 
them. So do nurses and people like that as ’ave 
good nerve and are used to ordering people about. 
And Mrs Bagnall says parsons’ wives ’ave started 
too. The parsons nowadays get so little money 
that their wives ’ave to keep ’em and so them as 
can’t sew or start ’at shops are takin’ in a loony or 
two.” 

“ Is that the truth ? ” 

“ Mrs Bagnall says it is, and she ought to know, 
being in the business ’erself. And, last time he was 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 165 

down, our Tom told me that the vicar’s wife at 
Orpcnstone, near Kett’ring, ’ad bought a moty-car 
with the money she had saved in three months. 
You see the vicarage was built in the days when a 
vicar’s wife was expected to ’ave a whole tribe of 
childer. It’s as big as a proper asylum, near about. 
And so she can keep ever so many loonies at once. 
She used to complain ’orribly about the size of the 
’ouse ; now she wishes it was twice as big. There’s 
plenty loonies to be ’ad, and more cornin’ on. Mrs 
Bagnall turns ’em away every week.” 

“ I wonder ” Ella began. 

“ There’s one kind you’ve got to keep out,” 
Mrs Goosey hastily interrupted. Them wot 
’ave religion are the worst. They’re awful liars 
and give the most trouble. They’re for ever tryin’ 
schemes to get their own way, just the same as if 
they weren’t barmy. And they upset the other 
poor things, because nobody can stand them. It’s 
a queer thing that religious people are so ’ateful 
even when they’re loonies.” 

During the next few days Ella considered the 
situation most carefully. It was quite obvious 
that she must have another paying-guest. But it 
was just as obvious that another Miss Minchin 
would either kill her outright or drive her mad. 
Miss Minchin dominated the whole household. 
The servants hated her but obeyed her numerous 
commands. Ella would have given almost any- 
thing to escape from her, but Miss Minchin insisted 
upon her pound of flesh. Another Miss Minchin 
would be intolerable. The only feasible plan to 


i66 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

increase an insufficient income seemed to be to 
secure a slightly mental case who would obey rather 
than issue orders. How to obtain such a desirable 
addition to the household was a problem. 

When in doubt consult Mrs Goosey,” had 
become Ella’s settled rule. The usual result of a 
consultation with a friend is that one either accepts 
the friend’s opinion or becomes more convinced 
than ever of the rightness of one’s own. Ella 
seldom followed Mrs Goosey’s advice, and she 
never felt tremendously strengthened in her own 
views of a question. But indubitably Mrs Goosey 
had a bracing effect upon her mind and, at all 
events, made her feel more optimistic. 

On this occasion Mrs Goosey, after suggesting 
various Jesuitical schemes for transferring money 
from her own pocket to Ella’s, said that it would 
be the easiest thing in the world to obtain one of 
Mrs Bagnall’s cast-off patients. She undertook to 
give the matter her personal attention. In less 
than a week Ella was in correspondence with the 
relations of a Miss Aveling who was about to leave 
Moor Hall and w^as looking for quieter and more 
home-like quarters. They were unable to under- 
take to make good any damage she might do, but, 
on the other hand, they were quite willing to give 
Miss Danesford authority to control both Miss 
Aveling and all her movements. 

The reference to damage rather terrified Ella, 
in spite of Mrs Goosey’s assurance that relations 
always made it quite clear that they would pay 
only for board and lodgings. Ella, after some 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 167 

hesitation, decided to consult Dr Austin before 
accepting so great a responsibility. 

Don’t over do it, my girl.” said the doctor, 
kindly enough, when Ella had stated her case. 

‘‘ It is not a question of over doing it,” Ella 
retorted proudly, simply because she knew that she 
was over doing it. “ It is entirely a question of 
Miss Aveling’s mental condition.” 

‘‘ She’s not certified,” said the doctor, disliking 
Ella’s tone. 

I know that.” 

“ She w'on’t behave as lunatics do in books,” 
the doctor went on. ‘‘ The books are written to make 
you laugh. Miss Aveling won’t do that.” 

“ Is she really very bad ? ” 

She’s only a little bit worse than heaps of 
women you’ve met and probably not nearly so bad 
as some.” 

‘‘ Then you think it W’ould be quite safe for me 
to accept the responsibility ? ” 

“ Quite safe,” said the doctor. She will not 
become violent, although she may throw things 
about once in a way, and she will not give you half 
as much trouble as Miss Minchin does.” 

Thank you.” 

The doctor, that evening, in the privacy of his 
own sanctum, chaffed Sydney Raynham about 
Ella and her new venture. Raynham stood the 
doctor’s chaff for a good while, but at length 
reached the end of his endurance. 

Look here, Austin,” he said in a voice that 
made the doctor literally sit up, ‘‘ you have made 


i68 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

an ass of yourself about that girl ever since she came 
here.” 

“ In what way ? ” gasped the doctor. 

“ You know that her father was a doctor ” 

“ A specialist,” the doctor interrupted. 

“ No, sir. A doctor. A country practitioner 
with a much smaller income than you have.” 

“ Then how the blazes did he make so much 
money ? ” 

“ He made no money beyond a bare living. That 
girl, whom you despise as a slacker, worked through- 
out the war in a munition factory. She saved some 
money. She and her mother lived in a small 
house in a narrow street in Darchester. When 
things were squared up the mother, who had lived 
all her life, previous to her husband’s death, in the 
country, was seriously ill. Probably she was dy- 
ing. Ella withdrew all her savings from the bank 
and took the vicarage here to restore her mother’s 
health — or else to give her a taste of her former 
life before she died.” 

“ Good God, Raynham ! Are you sure ? ” 

‘‘ My main facts are indisputable. Now what 
has happened ? Out of the goodness of her heart 
Ella has taken in poor Mabel Fielding, a neuras- 
thenic and a source of constant expense. Her 
mother, without a thought of money, has gone 
back to her old life, and poor Ella is running short 
of cash. To keep going she has taken first of all 
that damned old hag Minchin and, because the 
greedy old devil eats nearly as much as she pays, 
she is shouldering the responsibility of a lunatic 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 169 

in all but name. Can you call a girl like that a 
slacker ? You may call her sentimental and foolish, 
if you like, but I’ll be damned if she’s a slacker. 

Where’s my hat ? ” cried the doctor, jumping 
to his feet and throwing his pipe on the table. 

Dr Austin never wasted time. Yet nobody had 
ever seen him proceed at such a pace as that night. 
Ella felt and looked alarmed when she hurried into 
the drawing-room. 

“ I have been thinking about Miss Aveling,” 
he began a little nervously. 

You believe I ought not to take her ? ” Ella 
asked somewhat despondently. 

No, no. You can take her quite safely. But 
I ought to tell you a little about how to manage 
her. She suffers from a kind of erotomania 
and—” 

“Erotomania!” Ella interrupted, looking fright- 
ened. “ What on earth is that ? ” 

“ Well, she’s not exactly erotic — amatory, you 
know — and she’s not often melancholy. But she 
thinks that everybody she meets falls in love with 
her. At all events she is determined to give them 
a good chance to do so. She’ll become flushed and 
excited when a man is about, and she’ll talk like a 
dozen Frenchmen rolled into one, but you must 
take no notice.” 

Ella looked dismayed. 

“ You’ll really have no trouble with her if you 
deal firmly with her from the beginning. You must 
never allow her to think that you are afraid of her. 
And you must stand no nonsense from her. Tell 

M 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


170 

her firmly what you want her to do. She’s bound 
to do what you tell her. And if ever she shows the 
slightest sign of being impudent or nasty send at 
once for me. I’ll soon fix her.” 

‘‘ Thank you very much,” Ella stammered, 
surprised at the doctor’s new tone of voice. 

‘‘ You mustn’t let her talk to you any more than 
is necessary,” the doctor continued. If you do 
she’ll talk your head off. Tell her plainly that 
you can’t and won’t stand it. Don’t be afraid of 
hurting her feelings. She hasn’t got any to hurt 
and certainly she won’t consider yours. Polite- 
ness with such as she is mere waste.” 

I will try to remember.” 

‘‘ And, by the way, she’ll lie like a tinker. A 
good deal of it is due to her mental condition so, 
of course, you will take no notice.” 

But how am I to know when she speaks the 
truth ? ” 

“ You won’t know. You must take everything she 
says as lies. It’s not a bad way with other people 
as well as lunatics.” 

Ella thought it courteous to inform Miss Minchin 
of the approaching advent of another guest. She 
also hinted that the new guest’s mind was not 
entirely normal. 

“ I don’t mind in the least,” Miss Minchin replied 
affably. ‘‘ I have been in so many places and have 
met such queer people everywhere that nothing in 
the world affects me so long as I get moderately w^ell 
attended to. Of course some people are worse 
than others, but experience has taught me that 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


171 

insanity, in some form or another, is as common as 
indigestion. I remember once being at an estab- 
lishment in a place called Thorston. It was a 
delightful spot with a river and a wood and a most 
excellent cook. It was kept by a lady doctor and 
her husband, although all that the husband did was 
to write a few letters — and then only when his poor 
wife had kept on about them for days — and drink 
large quantities of whisky. It was before the war 
when whisky was plentiful and strong. Nowadays 
it is very scarce, as perhaps you know, and pitifully 
weak. Anyhow there were five persons in the house 
as well as myself. Two of them were quite out of 
their minds. One was a woman and she thought 
she was a great actress. She insisted upon dressing 
in the most fantastic manner and playing parts 
from Shakespeare’s and other plays. She had 
an execrable voice and the faces she made were 
positively terrifying. The other was a man who 
thought he would escape from some imaginary curse 
or other when he could eat his food standing on his 
head. I became quite accustomed to seeing Miss 
— I forget her name — dressed in antimacassars, 
and Mr Wells — he was no relation of the novelist — 
trying to stand on his head in his soup plate. The 
food was good and served to the minute. I expect 
another guest will enable you to give us a little 
more variety at table. I am not complaining, of 
course, far from it, but with another person in the 
house your task will be simplified. It is always 
easier to cater for a number than for one or two. 
Th^re will be another advantage as welh I shall 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


172 

have some one to talk to when you are otherwise 
occupied. I do long, when the mood is on me, 
to put into words the ideas that throng my brain ; 
and lately you have been a good deal with Mabel 
Fielding in the kitchen garden. By the time you 
return the mood has often departed and my won- 
derful ideas are consequently lost. It’s a great 
pity. I often think I ought to write. I have the 
ideas and I know I have descriptive powers — I have 
been told that no one can describe a sunset better 
— but unfortunately I have not the necessary ap- 
plication. I grow tired so soon. And writing 
— even letters — makes me so hungry. I am told 
that all artists experience that more or less. I 
have read that actors and actresses eat enormous 
suppers after playing their parts. Perhaps a little 
later on I may pour out my soul in a book.” 

Ella devoutly hoped that she would. 

When Miss Aveling arrived at the Vicarage 
she was obviously in a bad temper. She sat down 
on the edge of a chair, pursed her mouth, and re- 
fused to speak. Ella, after making sundry re- 
marks about the weather and the place, was forced 
to take refuge in silence also. When they had 
sat for ten minutes or so, without a word passing, 
Ella felt inclined to laugh hysterically. 

Dr Austin told me not to talk,” Miss Aveling 
at length exclaimed. He’s dotty. All doctors 
are. If I don’t talk how can I tell you anything 
about myself ? ” 

Ella admitted that words were necessary. 

I expect you have heard from my people ? ” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


173 


Yes, Ella had heard. 

‘‘ Lies ! ” cried Miss Avcling, growing red in the 
face. All lies ! They are jealous of me because 
I am the most fascinating one of the whole family 
and so they tell everybody the most awful lies 
about me. What did they say ? ” 

“ They said that I must do all in my power to 
make you comfortable and happy.” 

Very likely ! You expect me to believe that ? 
You are very simple if you do. I know what they 
said. They told you I was a selfish cat and gave 
so much trouble and upset them so much that they 
simply could not have me at home. They told you 
about my temper and my laziness and heaps of other 
things. All lies. I am most energetic wlren I like, 
and my temper is the best in the world unless some- 
body upsets me. I have never shaken anybody in 
my life. It’s all because I am so fascinating that 
men will run after me. But that’s not my fault, 
is it ? ” 

No,” replied Ella, wondering greatly what she 
ought to say. 

“ I am not going to stop here,” Miss Aveling then 
announced. ‘‘ I don’t like the place and I don’t 
like your clothes. They get on my nerves. Any- 
thing that gets on my nerves is bad for me ” 

My clothes have nothing whatever to do with 
you,” Ella said firmly, attempting to carry out the 
doctor’s instructions. ‘‘ If you don’t mind, we will 
not discuss them.” 

But I do mind. And I must discuss them. 
Your taste is quite shocking. Now I have a friend 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


174 

who is an artist. He taught me what good taste 
is. Of course he wanted to marry me, but a cat 

of a sister of his interfered. Anyhow you ” 

“ You had better see your room,” Ella inter- 
rupted, rising and moving towards the door. 

‘‘ I can see that you’re jealous as well as the 
others,” said Miss Aveling with a grimace. ‘‘ It’s, 
always the way wherever I go. The women turn 
into jealous cats. Have you any lovers ? ” 

What has that to do with you ? ” Ella de- 
manded firmly enough to satisfy even Dr Austin. 

Oh dear ! So that makes you hoighty-toity. 
It has this much to do with me ; if you don’t look 
after them you’ll lose them. You’ll find that I’m 
very different from that old frump Miss Minchin. 

It isn’t safe, when I’m about, to ” 

‘‘ Come along and don’t talk such nonsense.” 
‘‘ I shan’t come along. There I ” 

‘‘ Then I must send for Dr Austin.” Ella moved 
towards the bell. 

I was only teasing you,” said Miss Aveling 
rising and placing herself between Ella and the 
bell-push. “ I love teasing people. It comes 
natural to me, and I’m such an actress that every- 
body thinks I’m serious. I believe you thought 
so.” 

“ At all events I am serious,” said Ella, and she 
certainly looked serious. 

It’s a great mistake to be serious,” said Miss 
Aveling, watching Ella closely. ‘‘ It causes no end 
of mischief. If the soldiers had been serious we 
should have lost the war. Everybody knows that. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


175 

And I read, only the other day, that when you’re 
serious all the secretions of the body go wrong. 
Perspiration turns sour or something. I’m never 
serious. And that is why I always get my own 
way. Don’t imagine for a moment that I don’t. 
Because I do. I’ll get my own way about being 
here as I did about leaving Moor House. I gave 
Mrs Bagnall such a time that she had to turn me 
out. It w'as great fun. You should have seen 
the tempers she got into. I love to put people into 
tempers. I intend to do the same here. I shall 
soon have you all ” 

“ Now then I ” Ella exclaimed boldly. ‘‘ I have 
had quite enough of this. Come along to your 
room, or Dr Austin will be here in five minutes.” 

He told me he would be here in three minutes. 
I think I will go after all. But I’ll get my own 
way all the same. You’ll see if I don’t.” 

Late that evening. Jack Challenor arrived on his 
car. Ella ran out to greet him. 

“ Oh Jack 1 ” she said, grasping both his hands. 

I am so glad to see you.” 

Whatever’s the matter with you ? ” he asked 
anxiously. 

The matter ? Because I am glad to see 
you? ” 

“ Don’t be silly. I’m glad you’re glad. You 
look ill.” 

It’s nothing.” 

Rubbish ! What is it ? ” 

‘‘ My guests are a little bit trying to-day.” 

‘‘ Guests ? How many have you ? ” 


ELLA KEEPS PIOUSE 


176 

Only three. Poor Mabel Fielding, Miss Min- 
chin, and Miss Aveling.’’ 

My Lord ! ’’ Jack exclaimed with a groan. 

Won’t you come in and meet them ? ” Ella 
asked, already feeling better than she had done for 
days. 

“ I’d rather meet the devil himself. Twenty 
devils.” 

Are you afraid ? ” 

I am. I’m scared to death. But what the 
deuce put it into your head to collect lunatics ? ” 

They’re not all lunatics. I am afraid one is.” 

Jack groaned again. 

‘‘ Why do you do it ? ” he insisted. 

“ I must do something,” she replied. ‘‘ I don’t 
care for the people about here. Mother does. 
They belong to Eer generation, most of them, and 
she’s as happy as a sand-boy and as well as can 
be. So I must occupy my time somehow. And 
what better way could I discover than to look after 
people who are neglected by their own relations ? ” 

‘‘ Neglected I You’ll know before long why they 
are neglected.” 

‘‘ I know now,” said Ella with deep feeling. 

“ Why can’t you work in the garden — or — or — 
read books or something ? ” Jack asked. 

‘‘ I like to do something useful,” Ella replied, 
with her head on one side. 

Let’s go down and look at that bay you talked 
so much about. It’s a glorious evening and ” 

‘‘ But you object to go into the town or ” 

‘‘ Things are altered now.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 177 

Since when ? ’’ 

Since you took all those infernal women into 
your house.’’ 

They are not infernal women. Well, not very 
infernal.” 

“ Go and get a hat or something. I’ll wait here.” 

Ella soon fetched a wrap. 

I’ll go with you on one condition,” she said 
when she again stood by his side. 

“ What is it ? ” he asked. 

That you tell me all about the car and the 
works and the men, without saying one single word 
more about my guests.” 

When they arrived at the bay they stood silent, 
side by side, for several minutes. The sea was 
perfectly calm and tinged with the rose colour 
left in the sky by the departed sun. It looked as 
though no miraculous powers would be needed to 
walk out into the grey haze of mystery that slowly 
crept towards them. The outline of the cliff, 
on the other side of the bay, was softened by even- 
ing’s unrivalled process of scumbling. The shad- 
ows under the cliff were like the depths of a 
loving woman’s eyes. 

Jack looked down at Ella. There was something 
pathetic in her girlish figure, something that called 
to his strength in the droop of her shoulders, some- 
thing that stirred his soul in the expression of her 
eyes. His arm moved. He looked as though he 
would crush her to his breast. 

But, for some reason or other, he didn’t. 


CHAPTER XII 


H itherto Ella had had no trouble with 
her servants. She knew that she was 
fortunate and was most careful to touch 
wood, as an equivalent of ahsit omen, every time 
she mentioned her good luck. True, there had 
been complaints since Miss Minchin came. The 
housemaid grumbled sometimes about the con- 
dition of the lady’s toilet-pail when it had been 
used as a receptacle for superfluous soup ; and 
she didn’t “ fancy the idea of ” a lady’s washing 
saucepans and other cooking utensils in the bath- 
room ; it was bad for the towels, to say the least 
of it. Still, by the exercise of a little tact and a 
slight increase of wages, these minor difficulties 
had been overcome. 

A day came, however, when Ella was asked by 
the housemaid if she would mind speaking to Alice 
in the kitchen. She found the girl in tears. 

‘‘ Why, Alice, what is the matter ? ” Ella asked 
kindly. 

“ Everythink’s the matter,” Alice replied and 
sobbed afresh. ‘‘ We were just grand before these 
’orrible creatures came in to upset a good com- 
fortable place.” 

‘‘ What particularly have they done ? ” Ella 
asked. 

178 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


179 

‘‘ What ’aven’t they done ? ” Alice demanded. 

First of all there’s that old devil Minchin. You’ll 
just ’ave to excuse me, miss, but I can’t ’elp callin’ 
her what she is. Every time you’re out in the 
garden, or even havin’ a bath, she’s ’ere in the 
kitchen looking for things to eat or asking me if 
I can’t put more suet in the puddings or send in 
more cream for the tea. She’s never satisfied. 
And whoever ’card of hot-water bottles in summer ? 
They’re bad enough to remember in winter, when 
you’re ’aving them yourself, but to be asked two or 
three times a day for ’ot water when all you want is 
a good big fourpenny ice-cream, is more than any 
Christian can bear. Nobody likes having two 
mistresses, but Miss Minchin is worse than a second 
mistress. I’ve got to ’ate my name, she calls it 
that often.” 

“ I shall have to speak to Miss Minchin about 
it,” said Ella pacifically. 

She was bad enough by herself, but now there’s 
that other one making eyes at the milkman, who’s 
got seven children, and talkin’ to me about her 
lovers till I don’t know if I’m on my head or my 
heels.” 

‘‘ You must take no notice of Miss Aveling and 
her lovers.” 

‘‘ But I can’t help it. She talks to me about them 
even when I’m singing hymns at the top of my 
voice. ‘ Fight the good fight ’ only encourages ’er and 
as for ‘ Abide with me ’ there’s no need to tell her.” 

‘‘ You had better keep her out of the kitchen 
altogether.” 


i8o ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

“ It’s easier said than done. I did lock the door 
on her, but she came in through the larder window. 
She says she always gets her own w'ay, and I 
believe she does too. The most hateful people in 
the world is them that gets their own way because 
they get it by their hatefulness. They ought to be 
locked up. I can’t stand it any longer.” 

“ You must not give way to ” 

How can I help givin’ way ? I wouldn’t mind 
it so much if my own young man hadn’t took up 
with another girl. That’s what makes it so hard. 
I believe Miss Aveling knows and talks about her 
lovers on purpose to make me feel bad. She docs 
rub it in so about her being fascinatin’. I’ll not 
stay with her in the house. I can’t.” 

And she didn’t. Ella tried every possible means 
of persuasion but failed to move her. She went off 
to a new situation at a time when it would have 
been as easy for Ella to obtain the moon as another 
maid. 

Fortunately the housemaid remained loyal and 
faithful. She said she would do her best, wdth the 
help of a charwoman, if Ella undertook the cooking. 

Miss Minchin and Miss Aveling were not ignorant 
of the reason for Alice’s departure. They could 
not well be ignorant because Alice herself, while 
Ella was in the garden with Mabel, had spent over 
fifteen minutes in telling them why. When the 
necessity arose, Alice had a gift of direct speech as 
well as a command of a varied vocabulary. On 
this occasion Miss Aveling, locked in the kitchen, 
attempted to get out through the larder window. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE i8i 

Both paying-guests volunteered to help Ella 
with the work. Miss Minchin asserted that house 
work was extremely healthy exercise and splendid 
for the appetite. In fact when she did house work, 
as she had done in several establishments where 
she had resided, she found that she had to take to 
her room a little more than her usual amount of food 
to keep her going between tea and supper. Miss 
Aveling declared that she was as splendid at house 
work as she was at anything else ; indeed one reason 
why men found her so fascinating was the deftness 
which she displayed in turning out a room or 
washing up after a meal. 

Fortunately Ella placed no reliance upon her 
volunteers. Miss Minchin twice carried a cup and 
saucer, as a man would carry a scorpion, from the 
tea-table to the scullery. And three times, with 
many sighs and groans, she filled her own hot-water 
bottle. Then her wretched memory played her 
false and Ella was obliged to look after her hot 
water. Her memory was not so treacherous, how- 
ever, about the increased quantity of food carried 
to her room. 

Miss Aveling began well. She was up at five 
o’clock in the morning after Alice’s departure so as 
to be in good time to wash up after breakfast. 
When Ella suggested that there was no need to 
disturb the whole house by wandering up and down 
the stairs at that time in the morning, she sulked 
and remained in bed until midday for a week. 
She began again to do house work, but a man passed 
the gate while she was dusting the drawing-room 


i 82 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


and she ran off to peep at him through the hedge. 
After that she gave it up entirely. 

The fairy that presides over the bureau where 
reputations are handed out must have a tricky and 
Puck-like nature. She, of set purpose, puts the 
parchments into the wrong envelopes so that an 
author obtains a reputation for epigrams or a 
wool-comber a reputation for philanthropy, where- 
as the head of the department intended the author 
to be rewarded for his pedestrianism and the wodI- 
comber for his chicanery. She obviously takes an 
impish delight in exchanging the reputations of 
certain bishops with those of certain officers in the 
army ; and the diplomas meant for mild curates 
in the country have manifestly found their way 
into the envelopes addressed to politicians in West- 
minster. It^s a mad world at best, but when Puck 
presides at the reputation bureau it becomes more 
bewildering still. 

Ella had gained a reputation, in Midlington, for 
selfishness and pride. She was too proud to associ- 
ate with the local grandees and too selfish to under- 
take any work on behalf of her present neighbours. 
Her mother was sociable and altruistic ; she went 
everywhere and helped every good cause. But 
Ella shut herself up in her own house and refused 
to go even to the Tennis Club. 

It was grossly unfair ; but then most things in 
this topsy-turvy world are unfair. Ella felt, as few 
of her Midlington detractors felt, the call of the sun 
and the sea ; instead of remaining a prisoner in 
the vicarage with her loquacious guests she would 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


183 

gladly have spread her wings and filled her soul 
with the abundant beauty of earth, sea and sky. 
She would have revelled in a hard game of tennis 
at any hour of the day, but especially when the 
sun began to dip towards the horizon. No one 
within fifty miles of Midlington was more interested 
in the workers, their lives, and their problems ; 
and whereas most of the good ladies who visited 
working-girls’ clubs and other organizations went 
literally as patrons, Ella would have gone as a 
friend. But because other than showy duties 
claimed her, the vicar said that Ella was an idle 
and selfish little cat.” 

Ella’s worst trial was the orgy of talk at which 
she was always, or nearly always, present. Con- 
versation is a Heaven-sent mental occupation, a 
real art, and a sure source of joy and pleasure. 
It is no wonder that the Essayists have found it 
almost as excellent and inspiring a subject for their 
graceful productions as Books. Just as alcohol, 
according to a clever definition, is the shortest way 
out of Manchester, so conversation is the shortest 
way out of depression and weariness ; but a sur- 
feit of bad whisky leads to worse even than Man- 
chester and an orgy of bad talk ends in melancholy 
and despair. 

Ella in her own mind compared the talk of her 
paying-guests to two turgid and muddy rivers in 
spate. Sometimes she was battling vainly with 
one, sometimes struggling despairingly with the 
other. But often the two rivers had affected a 
junction and dashed the combined mass of flui4 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


184 

turgidity over an ugly cataract. Ella was carried 
over the Niagara and was battered, bruised and 
half-drowned in the whirlpool beneath. She was 
physically and mentally overwhelmed. 

It is not exhilarating to be told that there are 
shops in Birmingham and motor-buses in London. 
But when one of these statements is enlarged ad 
nauseam on the right hand by a woman who'has 
faith in her descriptive powers, and the other is 
expanded on the left hand by another woman who 
thinks of a bus only as a receptacle for men madly 
in love with her, the emotion engendered is apt 
to be homicidal. Carlyle, it is said, wLen talked at 
by only one rattle-brained talker, exclaimed in a 
voice of agonized entreaty, ‘‘ For God’s sake take 
me away, and put me in a room by myself, and 
give me a pipe of tobacco.” What he would have 
said, and done, if he had eaten a meal with Miss 
Minchin and Miss Aveling is too terrible to imagine. 

One day Mrs Goosey, hoping to snatch a few 
minutes with Ella without her ubiquitous guests, 
brought a deck-chair to her side of the hedge and 
sat down to wait and watch for an opportunity. 
The heat proved too much for her and she fell 
asleep. She was awakened by the sound of voices 
on the vicarage side of the hedge. Ella had at- 
tempted to obtain a quiet chat with Mrs Goosey, 
but her guests, descending upon her from opposite 
directions, had caught her between two fires. 
Mrs Goosey listened with her mouth widely opened. 

Miss Minchin, with her hand on Ella’s right arm, 
poured out a tale of scurrilous treatment in a board- 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


185 

ing-house situated in Brighton or Southsea, she 
could not remember which. It was during the war, 
she knew, and the landlady, who was no lady at 
all, had actually given everybody without exception 
an allowance, a mean scimpy insufficient allowance, 
of butter, jam, sugar and various other necessities. 
Miss Aveling, with her hand on Ella’s left shoulder, 
let loose an amorous story of a curate who would 
not take no for an answer, but persisted in his 
attentions until the bishop himself intervened and 
sent the infatuated subordinate off to an outlandish 
parish in Yorkshire. 

Mrs Goosey stood the ordeal for several minutes. 
It was only when Ella closed her eyes in sheer 
weariness that she burst through the hedge without 
waiting to look for the hole made by Cyril Hen- 
more’s chopper. 

‘‘ ’Ere 1 ” she shouted, waving her arms as she 
would have done to stop a train. ‘‘ Get off with 
you ! Quick ! I’m goin’ ter ’ave a fit ! Wow 1 ” 

“ I’m splendid with fits,” said Miss Aveling, 
approaching Mrs Goosey. “ I have a friend who 
has them regularly. Her brother wanted to 
marry ” 

‘‘ Are you splendid with fits ? ” Mrs Goosey 
interrupted, showing her teeth. With biting 
fits ? I bite like — Wow ! It’s cornin’ on I ” She 
made a dash, with outspread arms, at Miss Aveling. 

Biting fits were apparently new to Miss Aveling. 
She took to her heels. Miss Minchin had un- 
obtrusively disappeared. 

‘‘ Thank God, that’s done ’em ! ” Mrs Goosey 

N 


1^6 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


exclaimed, producing a large bandanna pocket 
handkerchief and fanned herself with it vigorously. 

I was fair at my wit’s end to know wot to try 
next.” 

Ella burst into a peal of hearty laughter. 

My word I ” said Mrs Goosey. It’s good to 
’ear you laugh like that. It’s weeks since I ’eard 
you. I’d bite Miss Aveling every day of the week 
and twice on Sundays if it would only make you 
laugh natural and ’earty like.” 

Whatever put a fit into your head ? ” Ella 
asked, as soon as she had recovered. 

“ I expect it was the good Lord ’imself. I’m 
sure I never would ’ave thought of it. But I did 
’ave a fright before I came through the ’edge. 
You see I was waiting to see if you might ’ave 
five minutes off of them there bizzums. I fell 
asleep, just after a wasp ’ad nearly stung me. And 
I ’ad a ’orrible dream. I was down a coal mine, 
millions and millions o’ miles down in the earth. 
There I stood, all by myself, in a great wide place 
with no earthly chance of gettin’ away. The sides 
of the place rose up and up further than I could see, 
and every ’ere and there I saw thousands o’ little 
imps with black faces and white teeth piling up the 
coal at the mouths of dark caves in the sides above 
my ’ead. I wondered what they were makin’ such 
faces at one another about. But I was soon to 
know. A sort of master himp jumped on to a piece 
o’ rock that stuck out into the big cavern about a 
mile above my head. I ’eld my breath because 
I thought he’d fall and ’urt ’imself. He didn’t fall. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 187 

He waved ’is ’and and all the other imps began 
pushin’ the coal down all round me. It made such 
a ’ideous noise that it woke me up. And then I 
found it was Miss Minchin and that other one 
talking at you nineteen to the dozen.” 

“ I can understand now,” said Ella, after she had 
appreciated Mrs Goosey’s dream, “ the popularity 
of the strong silent man in fiction.” 

“ Wot’s that ? ” asked Mrs Goosey who was not 
so well up in modern fiction as Miss Minchin. 

A great many women,” Ella replied, ‘‘ love a 
handsome and strong hero who scarcely ever says 
a word. I expect they have relations or friends 
like my two paying-guests.” 

I ’ate a man wot ’as nothin’ to say,” said Mrs 
Goosey with some heat. ‘‘ I ’ate ’im even if he’s 
’andsorae and strong. ’Andsome is as ’andsome 
does, as the sayin’ is, and strong in the arms means, 
as often as not, weak in the ’ead. Tom Starling 
was just like that. He never said a word when ’is 
wife told ’im he was less use than the clothes ’orse. 
But one day, when she’d only said he was enough 
to give anybody the creeps sittin’ there like a stuffed 
himage in a barber’s shop, he ups and gives ’er a 
clout with the poker. Never said a word, ’e didn’t, 
but just ’it ’er. Over a week in ’orspital, she was, 
and refused to give evidence against ’im when she 
came out. Your strong silent men ’ave devils of 
tempers and they never work it off by joring 
back at you. They just ’its you on the ’ead 
and ’arf kills you. Give me a man wot can 
talk nice and quiet like when he’s in a good 


i88 ELLA KEEPS PIOUSE 

temper, and can shout at ye and get it over when 
he ain’t.” 

“ Perhaps you are right,” said Ella. 

There’s no p’r’aps about it. And there’^ no 
p’r’aps about wot these ’ere lodgers of yours needs 
neither.” 

“ What do they need ? ” Ella asked eagerly. 

“ Somebody wot knows ’ow to talk back at ’em,” 
Mrs Goosey replied with conviction. ‘‘ You’re too 
young and too perlite. Perliteness is very nice 
in its way, but if you’re perlite when you’re tryin’ 
to get into a bus you’ll be left be’ind. As like as 
not you’ll be laughed at by them as got in past you. 
Sometimes you’ve just got to do as others do and 
fight for your place. Perliteness is like influenza : 
you can put up with it when everybody’s got it, 
but them as don’t ’ave it come off best in the end.” 

“ I’m afraid it would be rather difficult to talk 
back to ” 

“ Not for me,” Mrs Goosey interrupted. “ I’m 
a holy terror to talk to people, I am. You should 
’ave ’eard me talk even to the ’eadmaster of the 
Grammar School when the Latin teacher told Alec 
he would never be fit for anything but the boot 
trade. The boot trade’s as good as any other, 
’specially when there ain’t no slump, and you soon 
get used to the smell. People ’ave to ’ave boots, 
and ’ow are they to get ’em if there ain’t no boot 
trade ? Plenty of people manage to be comfortable 
and ’appy, and do their duty to God and man, with- 
out any Latin ; but you never ’eard of anybody 
wot was reelly ’appy without a pair o’ boots. Not 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 189 

in this country anyway. These ’ere teachers wot 
teach outlandish subjecks think there’s nothink 
else in ’Eaven or earth but their Latin or jometry 
or what not. Maybe in ’eaven they go without 
boots ; I ’ave seen pictures where the angels, poor 
things, ’ad no boots : and they ’adn’t many clothes 
neither. And maybe in ’eaven they talk nothin’ 
but Latin. But Kett’ring ain’t ’eaven. Not by 
a long chalk. There are too many chapels.” 

“ Did you tell the headmaster all this ? ” 

Ay, and more besides. I wasn’t a bit scared of 
’im for all he snapped at me like a little terrier dog 
we used to ’ave called Tim. I never was scared 
at Tim and maybe that’s why I wasn’t scared at the 
’eadmaster. His bark was worse than ’is bite, 
and when I came away he nearly shook ’ands with 
me. He would ’ave done, I do believe, only my 
right ’and ’ad somehow got tangled up in my 
cloak. When Alec first got into bothers at school, 
I used to ’ang about and wait for the master wot 
called ’im nariies, but after a while I went straight 
to the ’eadmaster ’imself. It’s best to go to the 
’ead of a firm or of anythink at once. You get no 
forrader with understrappers and the ’ead is never 
so saucy. But wot I want to say is I can talk to 
Miss Minchin or Miss Aveling either. A woman wot 
can talk to a ’eadmaster can talk to anybody. 
They’re so used to ’aving their own way with the 
poor boys.” 

‘‘ You could talk to them, I have no doubt,” 
Ella said. But I don’t think it would do any 
good.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


190 

That’s because you ’ave never ’eard me. Of 
course I’m diff’rent when I’m talkin’ to you.” 

“ It’s not that. It’s because I believe excessive 
talking, with them, is a disease.” 

But ain’t diseases cured ? ” Mrs. Goosey 
demanded. 

Some are incurable,” Ella affirmed. 

“ I was at a lecture once given by a lady doctor 
in a blue costume and black braid to our Mothers’ 
Meeting in Kett’ring. She said the way to cure 
some diseases, like dip’theria, was to pump in a 
whole lot of the same poison or whatever it is that 
brings the disease on. Now that’s just wot I want 
to do with Miss Minchin. Her talk’s a disease, as 
you say. Likewise it’s poison, as I say. So I’m 
goin’ to give ’er a good old dose of the same poison 
and if it don’t cure ’cr it won’t be for want of makin’ 
the dose strong enough.” 


CHAPTER XIII 


M ISS MINCHIN was much too delicate to 
go to church. She regretted it greatly 
and missed the ministrations to which 
she had been accustomed in the old days of health 
and energy. She liked clergymen fairly well, al- 
though very few of them were good at riddles ; 
she had never met one who could answer her famous 
conundrum about what a man often, the king 
seldom, and God never sees. Some clergymen 
indeed, were so boorish that they pretended not to 
hear her when she asked them riddles. In the days 
of her youth the clergy were much more polite. 
But then so was everybody else. 

She liked a gorgeous service with plenty of angel- 
faced boys in short cottas with deep lace. And a 
sermon had been, in the old days, an intellectual 
treat. She had tried, two or three times recently, 
to go to church, because Sunday was such a stupid 
day without something to do. But she could not 
sit through a service. It was dull. In fact it 
was worse than staying at home and talking about 
the meals. And people who go to church are not 
very polite : they look at one so rudely if one eats 
biscuits or sandwiches. 

That was why she thanked God daily for the 
191 


192 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

cinema. There you could eat what you liked. 
If you felt sinking you could open your bag and 
satisfy Nature’s craving for sustenance. If people 
looked at you it made no difference ; you couldn’t 
see them ; and they mostly ate things themselves. 
It was no wonder that people were going more and 
more to cinemas and less and less to church. Her 
solution of the problem of getting people to go to 
church was simple ; everybody would go if re- 
freshments were provided. 

Not that Miss Minchin went often to the cinema. 
But it was a source of comfort to know that it was 
there if wanted, just as it is a comfort to people who 
do not often go to church to know that there is a 
place, if required, for the marrying of couples or the 
baptizing of infants. Baptism can, at least, do a 
baby no harm and is even useful in preventing any 
further changes of the poor baby’s name ; and a 
marriage in a church, with bridesmaids, confetti, 
and perhaps an arch of swords, is much more 
picturesque than in a registry office with not even 
a Wedding March. 

When Miss Minchin had made up her mind to go 
to a cinema, a thing that she could not do without 
much discussion, there was a certain ritual to be 
followed. She “ kept about ” until within two 
days of the great event. Then she went to bed. 
On the first day of her retreat her instructions were 

meals as usual.” But on the second day she 
was obliged to limit herself to ‘‘ dainty little mor- 
sels frequently, and certainly not less than every 
two hours.” After her visit she again retired from 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


193 

the world and reversed the procedure for the 
sustenance of her body. 

The local Picture Palace had advertised a film 
version of Miss Ethel DelPs The Safety Curtain, 
Miss Dell was Miss Munchin’s favourite writer. 
When Miss DelPs books were to be had, Miss Minchin 
wondered greatly why anybody bothered about 
Arnold Bennett and inferior writers of his class. 
Bennett, she admitted, might have ideas, but he 
certainly did not know how to express them ; he 
employed unusual words and occupied a w^hole 
paragraph in saying what could have been told in 
]^alf a dozen words ; he might have made a very 
good auctioneer because he was quite passable at 
preparing catalogues of furniture ; but he really 
ought to take lessons on how to become an author. 
Miss Dell, on the other hand, had a style that was 
clear as crystal ; it was impossible to mistake her 
meaning ; she abounded in the subtle touches that 
proved the skilled observer ; and she was invariably 
true to life. Miss Minchin remained in bed on 
Monday morning so that she would be able to see 
The Safety Curtain on Wednesday afternoon. 

Mrs Goosey made up her mind to go also to the 
cinema on Wednesday. She knew nothing what- 
ever about Miss Dell and she had no enthusiasm 
for “ the pictures.” There was very little sense, 
she thought, in watching people making faces at one 
another without hearing a word of what they were 
saying. And it was very difficult to escape Charlie 
Chaplin who, in her opinion, forced people to force 
themselves to laugh under the delusion that they 


Ella keeps house 


194 

were enjoying themselves. But Mrs Goosey was 
not looking for entertainment : she wanted an 
opportunity to talk to Miss Minchin. 

Somehow or other Mrs Goosey missed her prey 
as she was coming out of the cinema. It was most 
annoying. She had endured two hours of silent 
suffering, in order to talk to Miss Minchin on the 
way back, and it was all for nothing. It was a 
fortunate thing for Mrs. Goosey that Miss Minchin 
had called at the dairy to inquire how much milk 
was sent up daily to the vicarage. Mrs Goosey 
caught her coming out. 

‘‘ I have been to the cinema,” said Miss Minchin 
affably but with the firm intention of preventing 
Mrs Goosey from asking any questions about the 
dairy. ‘‘ It was positively thrilling. An exquisite 
story, exquisitely told, and beautifully staged. 
I consider the cinema one of the greatest inventions 
of the day, if not the very greatest. It’s a marvel- 
lous time-saver. Poor busy people who cannot 
afford to read books can see the books in quite a 
short time. It just suits me. I can’t bear a book 
where I have to wade through page after page 
before anything happens. When I write a book 
something will be happening all the time. These 
are the only books worth writing. In fact I expect 
that, in a short time, no books will be printed ; 
they will simply be shown on the cinema. That will 
save a great deal of unnecessary padding and give 
much greater pleasure. It will incidentally solve 
the problem raised by the scarcity of paper. Be- 
sides the music is so thrilling. The man who plays 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 195 

here must be a musical genius. I wonder he 
remains in a place like this. But he won’t be here 
long. I’m sure of it. He‘ll go to London one 
Gay. He must.” 

Mrs. Goosey trudged along with exemplary 
patience. She made no effort to stop the flow of 
words from Miss Minchin’s busy mouth. Perhaps 
she knew that her time would come. 

I think Miss Danesford ought to go oftener to 
the cinema,” Miss Minchin continued. “ It is so 
refreshing. It takes one out of oneself for the time 
being. I’m sure it would do her good.” 

‘‘ Miss Danesford needs somethink to do ’er 
good,” Mrs Goosey remarked. 

We all do, my dear Mrs Goosey. It’s so foolish 
to get into a groove.” 

‘‘ It’s easier to get in than get out,” Mrs Goosey 
said sagely. And it’s easier still when two or 
three people push you in and won’t let you get 
out.” 

I should think so,” Miss Minchin admitted, 

although I don’t quite understand what you 
refer to. I was saying that it would do Miss Danes- 
ford good to go to the cinema occasionally, say as 
often as I go myself. Of course she’s young and 
very active and therefore she doesn’t require much 
relaxation.” 

She wouldn’t get it if she did,” said Mrs Goosey. 

Not with the kind o’ people ” 

She’s wonderfully bright and cheerful. I don’t 
think I have ever met a brighter spirit than hers. 
In fact she’s like a tonic to me. Braces me up, as 


196 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

it were, and makes me feel almost lively myself. 
Wonderful, I call it. Perfectly wonderful. It’s a 
gift. A great gift. Personality is a curious thing, 
Mrs Goosey, a very curious thing.” 

The poor thing looks real hill,” Mrs Goosey 
asserted. 

“ 111, Mrs Goosey ? Ill ? Surely I don’t hear — ” 

“ I said hill,” Mrs Goosey repeated, adding, 
“ and I means hill.” 

‘‘ Nonsense ! I was just saying this very day 
how very well she looks, and how young and cheer- 
ful she always is.” 

“ Young and cheerful she ought to be. But she 
ain’t. And it’s because you’re old and you’re 
greedy ” 

‘‘ Greedy indeed 1 ” Miss Minchin interrupted, 
the blood mounting to her nose. Greedy ! I 
enjoy my food, thank goodness for it, and I must 
say I enjoy it better since Miss Danesford began 
to cook it herself, but I’m anything but greedy. 
My doctor says I require feeding up, and I know 
he’s right, but I never overdo it. I know when to 
stop.” 

“ I don’t mean that kind o’ greediness,” replied 
Mrs Goosey, ‘‘ for all somethink might be said 
about it. Wot I mean is that you are fecdin’ on 
that poor girl’s ’eart.” 

How absurd you are ! ” exclaimed Miss 
Minchin, considerably relieved. ‘‘ Fancy feeding 
on a girl’s heart. Ridiculous ! I think you must 
have been drinking.” 

I’ve ’ad one bottle of stout, and that was at 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


197 

eleven o’clock this morning. You maybe don’t 
see it, but I do.” 

See what ? ” demanded Miss Minchin. “ The 
stout ? ” 

‘‘ You maybe don’t see as you’re drainin’ away 
that poor young thing’s very life.” 

“ Draining away I Perfectly ridiculous 1 Sounds 
like an abscess. You must be mad.” 

“ I’m not the one wot is mad,” said Mrs Goosey, 
keeping her temper well in hand. ‘‘ I know wot 
I’m talkin’ about. Look ’ere, Miss Minchin. 
You’re an old woman, for all you wear young ’ats, 
and you ought ter be content with what you’ve 
got. You ought, by this time, to be wise enough 
to feed on your own thoughts and what you ’ave 
learned in the past. Instead of that, you’re tryin’ 
to take that young girl’s youth and strength for 
your own. The worst of it is you’re doin’ it. 
Oh, old people that prey on the young are cruel — 
cruel 1 ” 

It was Mrs Goosey’s love of Ella that made her 
indignant. From the same source sprang a know- 
ledge, and even a command of language, that sur- 
prised the good lady herself. Miss Minchin was 
surprised also. For once her voluble tongue was 
silent. 

“ I’ve seen it many a time before,” Mrs Goosey 
continued, “ for all it was not among ladies of 
quality. But women and girls are pretty much the 
same whatever clothes they wear. The poor 
young things kick at first and after a while they 
sort o’ get used to it. But by that time their 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


198 

young life’s gorn. And wot’s left ? Crabbed old 
maids they’re called if they ain’t married, and 
mostly they’ve ’ad no chanst. Good Lord ! Is it 
any wonder they’re crabbed ? That there girl 
ought ter be enjoyin’ of herself like a young lamb. 
She ought ter be friskin’ about and waggin’ ’er 
tail. Instead o’ that, you and that other creature 
keep ’er runnin’ after you and gettin’ things you 
ought to get for yourself.” 

I certainly am forgetful,” Miss Minchin ad- 
mitted. “ But Miss Danesford always insists upon 
fetching my cushions and glasses and perhaps a 
few other things at times.” 

‘‘That’s not the worst of it,” Mrs Goosey con- 
tinued. “ Fctchin’ and carryin’ is irksome and 
wastes time, but it tires your legs more’n anything 
else. And young legs soon get over being tired. 
Wot you’re doin’ worse is you’re killin’ poor Ella’s 
spirit. She ’as to amuse you and keep up your 
’eart, bless you ! She ’as to talk all day long about 
things interestin’ only to old fogies. D’ye think 
she cares a tinker’s cuss for the things you care 
about ? She’s young. Miss Minchin, she’s young. 
And this is a time when the young are doin’ things. 
Look at Miss Raynham ; she’s up to the neck in 
things. Do you know anything about Glaxo and 
infant welfare ? Do you know a thing about — 
about — divorce ? Do you know as much as would 
lie on a threepenny bit about the eddication of the 
workers ? ’Ave you ever seen a worker at ’ome ? ” 

“ But, God bless my soul, Mrs Goosey, Ella is 
not interested in these things ? ” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


199 

Ain’t she just ? And in things I don’t even 
know the name of. Avcn’t I ’eard ’er talk to Mr 
Raynham ? And ’aven’t you seen ’er eyes light up 
when Mr Challenor tells ’er about the men in ’is 
factory ? I wonder many a time ’ow she can be 
bothered to talk to me. I do ’onestly.” 

By this time they had arrived at Mrs Goosey’s 
gate. After a moment’s hesitation Miss Minchin 
asked if she might go in and finish the discussion. 
Mrs Goosey was surprised, but she led the way to the 
drawing-room with some little elation. She 
believed that she had made some impression on 
Miss Minchin. 

What you have told me is a revelation,” said 
Miss Minchin as soon as she was seated. I 
assure you I had no idea that Miss Danesford 
was not interested in the things we have talked 
about.” 

“ You mean the things you have talked about,” 
Mrs Goosey corrected. “ Any time I’ve seen you, 
it appeared to me that you and Miss Aveling tried 
to talk one another down and Miss Danesford had 
no chance to say a word.” 

‘‘ And I have been congratulating myself upon 
having at last found a sympathetic listener,” Miss 
Minchin declared with a sigh. 

She listens all right,” Mrs Goosey admitted. 

She’s got to. But it’s doin’ ’er ’arm. Stands 
to sense that ” 

“ Life has treated me badly,” Miss Minchin 
interrupted, obviously following up her own train 
of thought. “ I have been badgered about from 


200 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


pillar to post for years and years. Do you know 
that I have been three times round the whole coast, 
staying in different boarding houses all the time ? 
I have never had a home since my parents died. 
And lately people have been avoiding me as if I 
had some kind of plague.’’ 

So you ’ave,” said Mrs Goosey bluntly. 

‘‘ A plague I ” cried Miss Minchin, aghast at 
the thought. 

“ Your tongue,” said Mrs Goosey laconically. 

But I must talk,” cried Miss Minchin des- 
perately. 

“ Don’ see it,” said Mrs Goosey firmly. 

If I don’t I should certainly — My gracious ! 
Can it be providential ? Are you, Mrs Goosey, an 
agent of Providence ? ” 

“ I’ve been called names many a time, both ’ere 
and in Kett’ring, but I’ve never been called ” 

“ I am not calling you names. It’s a compliment, 
I assure you. You have opened my eyes. I 
happened to read, only the other day, that every 
one ought to spend the last ten years of life in writ- 
ing a book, full of the wisdom and garnered 
experience ” 

“ That’s the very thing I ” Mrs Goosey inter- 
rupted, delighted beyond measure. 

‘‘ I honestly believe that it is,” said Miss Minchin, 
rising with unwonted alacrity from her chair. I 
have been told that no one can describe a sunset — 
but perhaps you have heard that before. Anyhow 
1 will write a book.” 

‘‘ Good luck to you 1 ” cried Mrs Goosey en- 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


201 


thusiastically. And Fll promise to buy your 
book as soon as it’s ready, even if it is all lies.” 

When Miss Minchin hurried from the room, Mrs 
Goosey, despite her years and her fat, gathered up 
her skirts and performed a very creditable imitation 
of a modern pas senl. 


CHAPTER XIV 


E liLA was now so occupied that she had 
scarcely time to think what a queer house- 
hold she had gathered round her as a result 
of her determination to keep house for a year. 
Mabel Fielding accepted Ella’s hospitality as an 
ill-treated animal would have done ; she asked no 
questions whatever about ways and means ; she 
refused to meet any of the other guests in the 
house ; but she worshipped Ella with the faithful- 
ness, and often with the very expression, of a 
dog. She spent almost all her time in the kitchen- 
garden where Johnson, the gardener, treated her as 
a child just old enough to be trusted to help him 
with light tasks. Ella managed to be with her 
some time every day, but she never spoke about her 
lost husband and never made any reference to her 
future. Occasionally Ella wondered what would 
happen when the year was up and her money spent. 
But usually she adopted the maxim of the Sermon 
on the Mount and took no thought for the morrow. 

Ella saw almost as little of her mother. Mrs 
Danesford had long been accustomed to Ella’s 
absence at the factory and, although she had cut 
those years out of her life in one sense, she ordered 
her days so that she had Ella only at meals and in 
202 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


203 

the evenings when Miss Minchin and Miss Aveling 
had gone to bed. Fortunately both guests retired 
early. 

On the afternoon of the day after Mrs Goosey’s 
interview with Miss Minchin, Ella was obliged to go 
into the town to do some forgotten shopping. That 
was why, when Jack Challenor arrived in his car, 
there was no one in the vicarage grounds but Miss 
Aveling. 

The mistake that Jack made, on this occasion, 
was a very natural one. It arose from the fact that 
Mrs Henmore, the vicar’s wife was fond of novels. 
Like a sensible woman, she spent as much money 
on books as on chocolates. Some of her friends 
were also fond of books but they preferred to buy 
more chocolates and borrow Mrs Henmore’s novels. 
Borrowed books, as Mrs Henmore soon discovered, 
arc not like curses ; they do not come home to 
roost on their own shelves. In order to encourage 
them to do so, the vicar’s wife printed her name in 
bold characters on the binding of every book she 
bought. Miss Aveling was reading, or pretending 
to read, one of these books when Jack Challenar 
turned into the shrubbery to look for Ella. She 
closed the book as Jack approached. He saw 
Mrs Henmore’s name and concluded that the lady 
who glanced up at him a little shyly w^as the lady 
from whom Ella had rented the vicarage. 

I beg your pardon,” he said, raising his cap. 
‘‘ May I ask if you have seen Miss Danesford 
anywhere about ? ” 

‘‘ I am so sorry,” replied Miss Aveling, lying as 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


204 

usual because she was extremely glad. She has 
gone into the town to do some shopping. She 
won’t be long.” 

‘‘ Thank you,” Jack replied, producing his pipe 
and moving on. 

‘‘ By the way,” Miss Aveling remarked hurriedly, 
“ she told me to tell you, if you happened to come 
to-day, that she hoped you would not go away 
without seeing her. She has something important 
to ask you about.” 

I shall certainly wait until she comes,” said 
Jack again moving on. 

‘‘ I don’t mind smoking,” said Miss Aveling al- 
most coquettishly. ‘‘ In fact I like it. It keeps 
away the gnats and they’re biting horribly to-day. 
Nasty little toads ! They must have very small 
mouths and yet they can hurt so much. You 
would really be doing me a great kindness if you 
smoked them away.” 

Jack sat down on the rustic seat, thinking that 
people in the country had really very charming 
manners. He had never seen Mrs Henmore, but 
he had heard that she was very voluble. Her 
irresponsible chatter would be the very thing to 
help to pass the time until Ella returned. In fact, 
it struck him just then, she might be of some use 
in getting rid of Ella’s obnoxious gpests. 

Jack had not met many parsons’ wives. In a 
few minutes he congratulated himself upon the 
fact. Miss Aveling poured out a torrent of words 
that simply overwhelmed him. And all about 
nothing. He gazed and w^ondered that one small 


KLLA KEEPS HOUSE 


205 

tongue could make so much noise. He found 
himself making fantastic calculations concerning 
the amount of work done, in foot-pounds, and the 
horse-power of the human motor. He had smoked 
his pipe to the bitter residuum before Miss Aveling 
made a single pause. 

I suppose you know the people who are living 
with Miss Danesford,” he remarked as soon as an 
opening occurred. 

‘‘ Know them ? I should think I do. There’s 
that silly little creature Fielding who has her 
breakfast in bed and her other meals by herself. 
She spends all her time in the back garden scratch- 
ing the earth. Do you know why ? ” 

‘‘ Fm sure I don’t.” 

She thinks she’s a hen. I knew a woman once 
who thought she was a cock-a-doodle-doo. Silly, 
wasn’t it ? She used to jump on a chair, flap her 
arms, and crow. It wasn’t a bit like a cock either. 
I could do it better myself.” 

“ I dare say,” muttered Jack. 

Fielding refuses to meet even me. Do you 
know why ? ” 

I don’t,” Jack replied rather hesitatingly. 

“ She’s jealous. She knows that I am rather 
fascinating. Of course I can’t help it. Can I ? 
I always have been so, since I was quite young. 
The men would follow me about, even before I put 
up my hair. But after I did put it up it was a 
procession. You never saw anything like it. I’m 
sure. I’m afraid Miss Danesford is a little bit 
jealous as well. She often ” 


2o6 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

Pm jolly sure she’s no such thing,” Jack 
interrupted fiercely. 

“ Are you ? Well, perhaps not. I’m sure I hope 
not.” 

Does Miss Danesford talk much with Miss 
Fielding ? ” Jack asked. 

“ A good deal. In fact she’s often with Fielding 
when she ought really to be attending to her other 
guests. But she spends more time still with Miss 
Minchin. She’s quite mad. If anything she’s 
worse than the Fielding chit. She thinks her 
stomach’s a larder and there’s going to be a scarcity 
of food next winter so she fills it up with everything 
she can lay hold of. And then she talks so much, 
and it’s all lies ; about boarding-houses she has 
never seen and landladies she has never known. 
She’s a most frightful bore.” 

“ I should think she is,” said Jack feelingl\\ 
“She’s getting worse,” Miss Aveling continued con- 
fidentially. “Do you know the latest development ? ” 
“ I don’t.” 

“ She’s going to write a book ! ” 

“ My gracious ! How could ” 

“ It’s the very height of lunacy.” 

“ I should think it is,” Jack agreed. 

“ Mind you, heaps of lunatics do write books,” 
Miss Aveling assured him with an air of complete 
knowledge. “ I once knew a chaplain to a lunatic 
asylum — in fact he wanted to marry me but my 
people wouldn’t consent unless he gave up his 
work — and he told me that quite a lot of the in- 
mates wrote books.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 207 

‘‘ I shouldn’t wonder,” said Jack, thinking of 
some of his adventures in books. 

‘‘ Some of them get printed too,” Miss Aveling 
asserted, growing bolder. “ When they do, the 
critics always write ever so much about them and 
say they’re works of genius.” 

'' Come now ! ” said Jack. Critics aren’t 
such fools as all that.” 

‘‘ They are,” cried Miss Aveling with glee. “ I 
knew a critic once. He was staying at the same 
place as I was. He told me, just before he proposed 
to me, that very few critics except himself knew a 
good thing when they saw it.” 

Look here,” said Jack, who was not a bit 
interested in critics, “ don’t you think we could 
put our heads together and do something to fire 
these people out ? ” 

“ Yes, let’s,” cried Miss Aveling moving nearer 
to Jack and inclining her head towards his. 

Jack was shocked. He . had read in the news- 
papers, in common with several millions of other 
people, about a parson who kissed a housemaid ; 
he remembered thinking at the time that the news- 
papers might well put up their prices and grumble 
about the scarcity of paper when they made such a 
fuss about a thing like that. And he had known a 
curate or two who had not been averse to flirtation. 
But he had always thought that parsons’ wives were 
invariably opposed to anything in the nature of 
frivolity. Mrs Henmore was, perhaps, the excep- 
tion. He didn’t like it. The rule might be straight 
and narrow, it might wear old-fashioned clothes 


2o8 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


and gloves that were too long in the finger, but 
even that was preferable to a parson’s wife who 
took him literally when he suggested putting their 
heads together. He moved away abruptly and 
produced his tobacco pouch. 

“ I wish they were all at the bottom of the sea,” 
he growled. ‘‘ They’re wearing poor Ella to ” 

‘‘ That’s silly,” Miss Aveling interrupted. “ You 
couldn’t possibly put them in a bag, like kittens, 
and carry them down to the sea.” 

‘‘ I know I couldn’t. But I would like to do it 
all the same.” 

“ I’ll tell you what you could do,” said Miss 
Aveling, bending forward and looking into his 
eyes. 

“ What ? ” he asked, meeting her eyes and 
wondering at their odd expression. 

Blow the house up with dynamite,” she cried 
clasping her hands. “ Please- do. I’d simply love 
it. And do it in the afternoon when Miss Minchin 
is in bed. It would be such fun to see her drop 

down from the clouds dressed in her ” 

Well, and wot might you be doing ’ere ? ” 

It was Mrs Goosey’s voice, and Jack saw, when he 
raised his eyes, that she was gazing sternly at his 
companion. He was rather glad because he thought 
that she was addressing him. 

Mrs Henmore has been ” Jack began, 

chivalrously taking upon himself the burden of 
replying. 

‘‘ Mrs Who ? ” the stout lady thundered. 

“ She is Mrs Henmore, is she not ? ” Jack 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


209 

stammered, rising to his feet. A horrible suspicion 
had been growing in his mind for some minutes. 
It Studdenly developed into a certainty and he 
longed for the ability to kick himself — ^hard. 

She’s a jealous old thing,” said Miss Aveling, 
standing at his elbow, ‘‘ although she is so fat. 
I’m beginning to think she’s mad too. She believes 
she’s a duck. That’s why she waddles. Good 
bye.” 

Jack stood gazing after her in horrified amaze- 
ment. He was quite pale and the hand that held 
his pipe shook with nervous agitation. 

Never mind, my poor boy,” said Mrs Goosey. 
‘‘ ’Eaps of people as well as you don’t know a loony 
when they see one. Maybe it’s just as well they 
don’t ” 

But I ought to have known,” Jack exclaimed 
with considerable agitation. “ She was tre- 
mendously excited, her eyes were decidedly queer, 
and she talked awful rubbish.” 

‘‘ She always does talk rubbitch,” Mrs Goosey 
said soothingly. ‘‘ And she’s always worse excited 
when she’s talkin’ to a man.” 

I ought to have seen it,” Jack insisted. “ I 
ought to have known that she wasn’t normal. 
Do you think I’m — well, a little bit off myself ? ” 

MVs Goosey suddenly became extremely serious. 

‘‘ D’ye know I feel just like that when I’m talkin’ 
to them,” she said in an awestruck voice. I think 
I’m gettin’ like them. And I declare to goodness 
if I was as much among them as Ella I would very 
soon be a reg’lar barmy ’addock. I would for 


210 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


certing. My brain ain’t very strong as it is, and 
if it got much into bad company it would crack 
up just like theirs.” 

“ Ella ought not to have these people about her,” 
said Jack a little bitterly. 

That’s the truest thing ever you said in your 
life,” Mrs Goosey replied. 

“ 1 don’t know why she does it.” 

‘‘ Don’t yer ? Well, I do.” 

“ Why is it ? ” ^ 

I’m not sure if it’s good manners or perlite or 
something to tell you. But I’m goin’ to do it all 
the same. It’s to get money.” 

What for ? ” 

“ To keep her mother goin’ first of all. Her 
mother’s as nice a woman as ever stepped on shoe 
leather, but she ’as no idear of the value of money. 
Then, in the next place, it’s to pay for that poor 

creature Mabel Fielding wot ” 

But — but — Good Lord ! If she’s short of 

money can’t we do something to ” 

I can’t,” Mrs Goosey announced firmly. 

“ I don’t mean you. Why should you ? I mean 
myself. I have plenty of money and ” 

“ So ’ave I,” Mrs Goosey interrupted. 

What do you mean ? ” Jack asked, perceiving 
that Mrs Goosey had something up her sleeve. 

‘‘ I mean that Ella’s as proud as Lucy Fur, who- 
ever she was. She won’t take a penny ” 

“ You’ve tried to help her,” said Jack hastily. 

“ I’d roll over and over, like a beer barrel, from 
’ere to Kett’ring to ’clp ’er, but she ” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 211 

You dear ! ’’ cried Jack grasping her round 
the neck and kissing her. 

‘‘ Lord save us ! ” gasped Mrs Goosey. “ You’re 
a gentleman and you kissed me 1 ” 

I’ll do it again,” said Jack. And he did. 

Mrs Goosey trembled like a young girl who has 
received her first kiss. She flushed and paled. 
She looked down at the gravel. She was much too 
agitated to speak. 

“ Come now,” said Jack. “ I’m quite sure that 
you and I can hit on some scheme for providing 
Ella with all the money she requires.” 

There’s only one way,” Mrs Goosey managed 
to say after Several abortive attempts. 

“ What is it ? ” Jack asked eagerly. 

Marry ’er,” Mrs Goosey replied succinctly. 

She’ll ’ave to take your money then the same as 
I ’ave to take our Tom’s.” 

Jack hung down his head and was silent. Mrs 
Goosey waited a full minute, her eyes fixed on the 
part of his face that was visible. 

Well ? ” she asked at length. 

I can’t marry her,” he said, looking up. 

Mrs Goosey rose to her feet. 

‘‘ A minute ago,” she said, her eyes blazing, 
“ I was the proudest woman in England. And for 
why ? Because you, a gentleman, as I thort, ’ad 
kissed me. Now I am as ashamed of it as if you 
was older and I was younger. I thort you kissed 
me because you loved Ella and knew I loved her too. 
How dare you, sir ? ’Ow dare you ? ” 

‘‘ You don’t understand,” Jack ejaculated. 


212 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


Maybe I don’t and maybe I do,” said Mrs. 
Goosey, darting glances at him that ought to have 
withered him up. I never thort for a moment 
that you was one of them there fellers wot run after 

girls just to ’ave a bit o’ fun. If I ’ad ” 

No, no,” Jack interrupted fiercely. I love 
Ella. I love her with my whole soul. I would 

gladly give my heart’s blood to ” 

‘‘Nobody wants anythink so’orrid as your ’cart’s 
blood,” Mrs Goosey interrupted coldly. “ I’ve 
’card a lot about ’eart’s blood on the stage in the 
Victoriar ’All in Kett’ring. And I don’t ’old with 
it. It sounds ’igh and mighty but it means nothing. 
If I let myself think about it as meaning anythink 
it makes me sick. Love’s good enough without a 
lot of bosh about givin’ your ’eart’s blood and your 
very life and your soul itself. If you love Ella, 
as you say you do, why can’t you marry ’er ? ” 

“ I wish to God I could — if she would have me. 
But there is a barrier between us.” 

“ D’ye mean a ’indrance ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Can’t you get over it ? ” 

“ No.” 

“ Nor under it ? ” 

“ I can’t.” 

“ And can’t you clear it away ? ” 

“ No.” 

“ Are you goin’ to tell me wot it is ? ” 

“ What’s the good ? Neither you nor anybody 
can remove the obstacle. It is absolutely im- 
possible.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


213 

Mrs Goosey was silent for some minutes. She 
looked at Jack’s bowed head, and her expression 
gradually changed from scorn to pity. Quite 
obviously she nerved herself at length to speak. 

Pm sorry for you,” she said, touching his head 
with her hand. ‘‘ Reel sorry. I believe you do 
love Ella in the right way. Pm only a very hig- 
norant woman. I can’t even do fancy sewing, 
for all I can run a hem with anybody. Nobody 
ain’t ever learned me manners, for all our Alec 
tried a bit when he first went to the Grammar 
School. And I ’aven’t gorn to church as often 
as I might. I never could understand a word the 
vicar said, so wot was the use ? He always talked 
as if he ’adn’t finished ’is dinner. All the same if 
I was a man, and sometimes I wish I was and 
sometimes Pm glad Pm not, if I was a man, I say, 
and reelly loved a woman I couldn’t marry, I think 
I wouldn’t spoil ’er chances with other men.” 

Spoil her chances ? ” Jack repeated, rather 
bewildered. 

“ She ’as chances,” Mrs Goosey asserted con- 
fidentlv. ‘‘ There’s Mr Raynham. He comes first. 
He’s a nice quiet feller for all he writes lying books. 
But Ella says there’s no ’arm in ’em so long as you 
know they’re lies. She knows better’n me, but I 
can’t ’elp wishing a well-set-up chap like ’im was 
doing somethink useful. He’s in love with ’er, 
for all he ain’t too pushin’. All the same he’s 
nice and attentive when he gets a chanst, and I 
know she likes ’im. His talk’s dull — all about 
books and things — and Ella couldn’t listen to ’im 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


214 

the way she does if she didn’t like ’im. Stands to 
sense, that does.” 

Jack shuddered slightly. 

“ I know’d a nice girl in Kett’ring,” Mrs Goosey 
continued, “ wot listened to nothin’ but motor- 
car engines for two years, and ’er ’ardly knew the 
difference between a valve and a cylinder. Not 
that I knows it myself nor never will but that was 
the way she put it. In fact it wasn’t until the 
baby came that he learned to talk interestin’. 
It’ll maybe be the same with Mr Raynham. It’s 
all books now, but when he’s got a nice fat baby to 
nurse he’ll learn sense.” 

Jack squirmed and changed his position on the 
seat. 

“ If she doesn’t marry Mr Raynham, our Alec 
may ’ave a chanst. He’ll be ’ere in a week or so 
now, and it’s a proud and ’appy woman I’d be if 
I ’ad Ella for a daughter-in-law. I’m not goin’ 
to say Alec’s a beauty. He ain’t. But he’s strong 
and clean and wouldn’t do an ill turn to anybody. 
He’ll ’ave plenty of money, because neither Tom 
nor me can spend ’arf wot we ought ter. Not that 
Ella sets too great store on money. All the same 
I’ve made up my mind to get ’er married and out 
of this lodging-’ ouse business.” 

“ She ought never to have gone into it,” Jack 
muttered. 

‘‘ And you ought never to ’ave come after ’er 
when she did,” retorted Mrs Goosey. ‘‘ With that 
there ’indrance, whatever it is, tied to your back 
you ought to deal fair and square with Ella. And 


215 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

it ain’t fair to make ’er fond of you wot can’t marry 
’cr when she might get fond of somebody else 
wot could.” 

All right,” said Jack miserably. ‘‘ I don’t 
dispute it.” 

Well, then, wot about it ? ” 

“ What do you want me to do ? ” Jack asked. 

You know well enough,” Mrs Goosey replied. 

‘‘ Very well,” said Jack in accents of despair. 

I promise.” 

‘‘ But wot do you promise ? ” Mrs Goosey 
persisted. 

To keep away from her, confound you I Unless, 
of course, I must see her on business or ” 

‘‘ ’Ere she comes,” whispered Mrs Goosey. 

Ella came, with lagging steps, through the 
vicarage gate. The afternoon was hot and the 
roads dusty, but the heat and dust alone did not 
account for Ella’s want of spirit. She was tired of 
her guests and weary of monotony. She returned 
to the vicarage as to a prison house. 

A flush of colour came to her pale cheeks when 
she saw Jack’s car. She turned alertly to search 
the shrubbery. 

There I ” exclaimed Mrs Goosey. You see 
for yourself. Flushes, she does, at the sight of a 
senseless car because it’s yours. She’s gettin’ fond 
of you. It’s time somebody said somethink. Not 
that I like interferin’ with anybody’s business, 
and still less with hers. But if ’er mother will gad 

about She’s cornin’. I’m orf. Don’t forget 

your prorrtise,” 


2i6 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


‘‘ You look tired, Ella,” said Jack, still holding 
her hand. 

‘‘ I am tired,” Ella admitted. It was stupid 
of me to forget some of my shopping this morning. 
I don’t think I was often forgetful at the works.” 

“ You never were,” Jack affirmed. “ But it’s 
no wonder you feel the strain of these confounded 
women. I had a talk with Miss Aveling a few 
minutes ago. She’s a daisy.” 

Is that why you, too, are looking pale ? ” 

No. I don’t think it’s that, although I would 
certainly like to murder her.” 

‘‘ What is it then ? ” Ella asked, searching his 
face keenly. 

It’s business,” Jack replied, after a moment’s 
hesitation. 

‘‘ You don’t mean it surely ? I understood that 
you were full up with orders and ” 

“ We have plenty of orders. It’s the men. 
They have been giving a little trouble ” 

‘‘What! Our men? Surely not. Surely men 
like Spud Clarke and Jim Parsons and George 
Ramsay would never give trouble.” 

“ They have been upset by one or two agitators. 
But I don’t anticipate anything very serious.” 

“ I hope not,” said Ella, wishing with all her 
heart that she had never come to Midlington. 

“ The unrest will tie me up a good deal,” he 
explained, glad that he could truthfully say so. 
“ i shall not be able to run down often to see you.” 

“ Oh 1 ” exclaimed Ella. Then she bit her lip. 

“ I don’t suppose it will make much difference,” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


217 

he said with a spitefulness that was due entirely 
to Mrs Goosey. 

It will make some,” said Ella very quietly and 
just a little huskily. 

I wish to the Lord — I mean I wish you would 
let me help you.” 

‘‘ You have helped me.” 

“ Not as much as I want to. I want to — to 

But what’s the good ? I can’t do anything. You 
won’t ” He stopped abruptly. 

‘‘ I wish I was back in Darchester,” said Ella, 
looking straight in front of her. I’m sure I could 
do something with Spud and a few others.” 

“ I wish you had never left it,” said Jack. 

“ I was right to leave. Mother is quite well 
again.” 

“ And what about you ? ” 

‘‘ I’m all right.” 

“ You look it too ! You’re as white as a sheet 
of paper, and you’ve dark circles under your eyes, 
you’re ever so much thinner, and ” 

Gracious 1 What a list of blemishes 1 I really 
must take more care of myself.” 

“ You need somebody to ” Jack broke off 

before completing his sentence. 

To do it for me,” Ella suggested. Mrs 
Goosey tries. She’s a dear old soul.” 

Interfering old cat ! ” said Jack. 

You’re quite wrong. Or rather you don’t 
mean that a bit. She’s really the best friend I 
have. When you stop coming, she’s the only one.” 

Jack turned on his heel and made a rush for his 

p 

\ 


2i8 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


car. He took hold of the starting-handle as if 
he hated it. And when he dashed through the 
gate at a reckless pace, on two wheels, and without 
sounding his horn, he was imploring High Heaven 
to rain down curses upon something or somebody. 
Fortunately High Heaven pays no attention to the 
prayers of lovers who are beaten by an obstacle. 


CHAPTER XV 


T here are times in the life of every one 
when it is exceedingly difficult to dis- 
cover what is the right thing to do. 
And it sometimes happens that the Bible, ponder- 
ous volumes of Ethics, and the slim dogmatic 
volumes issued by certain publishers of religious 
literature, fail to give a clear lead. Even an 
omniscient Spiritual Director does not always give 
satisfactory guidance. And the poor hesitating 
mortal, often ignorant of the labours of sophists 
and casuists which might help him, suffers agonies, 
face to face with the moment to decide.’’ 

On the other hand, some have an experience 
comparable with that described by the Pope in 
Browning’s unforgettable picture of a thunder- 
storm in The Ring and the Book, The truth is 
flashed out by one blow. The way, the right way, 
is seen in an instant. There is no longer room for 
hesitation or irresolution. 

Mrs Goosey had seen in a flash of inspiration 
her clear course. Jack Challenor had been coming 
pretty often, and at considerable expense con- 
sidering the price of petrol, to Midlington Vicarage. 
Ella enjoyed his visits, to say the least of it. But 
another man was also attracted by Ella. It was 
219 


220 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


time that Challenor should declare his intentions. 
When it appeared that he had no intentions what- 
ever the thunderstorm arose. The dark clouds were 
cut asunder by a 'lightning stroke. Mrs Goosey 
saw clearly that he must withdraw. Fortunately 
he had sufficient grace to do so. 

Mrs Goosey naturally desired to complete the 
work that she had so well begun. It was well that 
Jack Challenor had promised not to visit Ella 
again ; it would be better if Ella, for her part, 
would blot out his memory entirely. Nothing 
good could come of thinking about a man with a 
hindrance to matrimony. 

I used to be quite fond of that there Jack 
Challenor,” she remarked to Ella the morning after 
her interview with Jack. 

Used to be,” Ella repeated, looking up quizzi- 
cally. 

‘‘ I’ve got over it,” Mrs Goosey explained, ob- 
viously feeling rather uncomfortable. 

‘‘ Really ? ” said Ella, raising her eyebrows. 

“ No, I ’aven’t,” cried Mrs Goosey, at length 
meeting Ella’s eyes. ‘‘ I’m tellin’ you a lie. I’m 
just as fond of the poor feller as ever I was, maybe 
fonder. All the same I’m glad he ain’t cornin’ 
back.” 

‘‘ Did he tell you he wasn’t coming back ? ” 

“ He promised faithful ” 

“ You made him promise ? ” 

‘‘ I just put it to ’im.” 

‘‘ Had you any right to put it to him ? ” 

“ I ’ad,” Mrs Goosey replied proudly. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 221 

What right ? ’’ Ella asked in an ominously 
quiet tone. 

The right of love,” Mrs Goosey replied with 
great dignity. “ I, love you, my girl,” she went on, 
losing her dignity, as much as I love any ’uman 
being in this world. It takes two to make a 
quarrel, and I ain’t goin’ to quarrel with you, even 
if you talk sarcastic. You may look at me as if 
I were muck, and you may talk in that quiet way 
that’s worse than red ’ot knives, but you’ll never 
make me cross with you, not in a thousand years. 
God knows I’m not an interferin’ woman. I ’ate 
’em worse than the devil, because they arc worse. 
But when a man says he can never marry a girl 
because of a ’indrance that nothing and nobody 
can clear away, then I say, and I stick to it, he 
ought to keep off the grass. It may be ’ard. It is 
’ard. But ’ard or soft, right’s right.” 

‘‘ I’m not going to quarrel with my best friend,” 
said Ella, patting Mrs Goosey’s hand. “ I should 
be the biggest fool in the world to do so. And I 
didn’t mean to be sarcastic. And I’m sure I didn’t 

look at you as if you were dirt. And ” 

‘‘ I said muck,” Mrs Goosey corrected. 

‘‘ And I know you wouldn’t' interfere,” Ella 
went on, taking no notice of the correction, ‘‘ un- 
less you had very good reasons, and — and — did 

lie say that the hindrance — I mean ” 

‘‘ He said he couldn’t get over it nor under it 
nor yet he couldn’t clear it away. It’s plain enough 
wot he means for all he wouldn’t say it right out.” 

What does he mean ? ” 


222 ELLA KEEES HOUSE 

“ He’s married already. Wot else ? That’s the 
only thing a man can neither get over nor under. 
He’s done it when he was soldiering, like lots of 
others. The poor fellers were so lonely with nothing 
but a pack o’ men round about them, that they were 
ready to marry anything in petticoats. And some 
of the women they married didn’t even ’ave petti- 
coats. Brazen hussies I calls them, goin’ about 
showin’ their legs to everybody as liked to look at 
’em. And some of the legs wasn’t much to look 
at when they did show ’em ; spindle-shanks, some 
of ’em, and some with as much shape as a roly- 
poly puddin’. I’ve no patience with ” 

“ But did lie say he was married ? ” 

‘‘ Not in so many words. But he did say I 
couldn’t remove the ’indrance. And he knows well 
enough that the only thing I’d stop at is murder. 
Anythink else ” 

“ There is Miss Minchin looking for me,” Ella 
interrupted. ‘‘ Perhaps it is better,” she added, 
turning to go, that Jack is not coming again.” 

Ella was strangely quiet and abstracted all the 
morning. She did not appear to hear the long 
discourses delivered to her by Miss Aveling. At 
luncheon she ate nothing herself and made several 
mistakes in helping the others. After luncheon 
she suddenly decided to leave her guests to their 
own devices. 

She instinctively made for the bay of her choice. 
She craved quietude and beauty. She wanted to 
think, and she had found that thinking was im- 
possible in a house tenanted by Miss Aveling. No 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


22 $ 

room was sacrosanct ; and the paying-guest, 
never forgetful of the paying,” was accustomed 
to begin her vapid drivel whether Ella were 
reading a book, writing a letter, or brushing her 
hair. 

It was an afternoon of generous summer, one 
of those glorious days by which England atones 
handsomely for many climatic sins. The sky was 
cloudless, and the sun in his strength bestowed 
his favours right royally. Outside the headland the 
sea was Neapolitan blue ; inside the bay it was 
palest of greens. The rocks seemed to rise and fall 
with the sea’s deep breathing. Even the birds 
were hushed by the serene beauty and rested, albeit 
jauntily, on the calm water. 

Ella surrendered her mind to the stilling influence 
of her surroundings. She was young enough to do 
so. Even on the brown and barren rocks of 
England’s coast youth can find lotus growing. 
Ella plucked and ate. If the result was not exactly 
complete forgetfulness, it approximated near enough 
to it to clear the frown from her brow and banish 
the hopeless expression from her eyes. 

A boat darted round the point where Mabel 
Fielding had addressed the waves. Sydney Rayn- 
ham, in white flannels and with his shirt open at the 
neck, was the oarsman. He rowed well, feathering 
his oars skillfully and leaving a line of little whirl- 
pools on each side of the boat’s wake. Ella, watch- 
ing the boat’s steady progress, hoped that Raynham 
would see her and invite her to join him. 

He did see her. He backed the square stern of 


^24 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

the boat close to the rocks and asked her to come 
aboard. 

It’s perfectly lovely,” said Ella, meaning 
exactly what she said, when the boat was half-way 
across the bay. 

‘‘ I knew you would like it,” he replied. 

“ Have you commenced your new book ? ” she 
asked after another long interval of silent enjoyment. 

“ It’s simmering,” he answered, “ but not yet 
ready to be dished up.” 

‘‘ Is it rude or something to ask what it is about ?” 

Dear me, no ! It is polite. Even if you are 
not interested, you ought to ask.” 

I am interested. Is it modern ? ” 

“ Next one will be, I think. This one is still 
historical. I am daring to transfer a young lady 
of the present day into the far-away period of the 
Peasants’ Revolt. I imagine her the real chate- 
laine of a castle in those troublous times so strangely 
like our own and have forced certain fantastic 
guests upon her. It is interesting to me, whatever 
it may be to hypothetical readers, to discover what 
she does and how she ” 

But you don’t,” Ella interrupted. “ You 
discover only what you yourself would do if you 
were in her skin.” 

‘‘ Eh ? What ? ” exclaimed Sydney, resting on 
his oars. 

“ You novelists,” said Ella, or your admirers 
for you, sometimes claim too much. You assume 
the Divine prerogative of creating human souls. 
But you really do not create souls. You can’t. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 225 

You can, and do, create situations, circumstances, 
environment. Then you jump into a skin — into 
many skins — which you may have seen or may 
have imagined and act according to the situation 
and the skin. But it is yourself all the time.’’ 

“ I don’t agree at all.” 

1 should be surprised if you did. You natur- 
ally hold on to the Divine prerogative. Do you 
think that George Eliot created Mrs Poyser ? ” 
Of course she did. And nobody else could — ” 
I say she did not. She herself is Mrs Poyser. 
She imagined the circumstances and she probably 
knew the environment. She may have met the 
skin somewhere. But it is George Eliot, under 
certain self-imposed limitations or it may be with 
certain self-given freedom, who speaks and acts. 
If Mrs Humphry Ward attempted a similar feat 
the result would be disastrous. Not because Mrs 
Humphry Ward would not study models carefully, 
but simply because she herself has little or no sense 
of humour. She never could become Mrs Poyser, 
but George Eliot could and did. Even when Mrs 
Humphry Ward puts slang into the mouth of her 
characters it’s wrong slang. She herself could not 
talk slang ; therefore she fails.” 

“’Every novelist, the same as everybody else, 
has his limitations and — ^ — ” 

“ They are the limitations of his own personality. 
Many men have a good deal of the woman in their 
personality ; consequently they can speak and act 
in their female characters. Anthony Hope, for 
example, has much of the clever and charming 


226 


ELLA KEEPS MOUSE 


woman in his composition ; he even writes in a 
ladylike fashion ; he could, and did, present him- 
self successfully in that guise. But Kipling has 
not. And he may tell you over and over again 
that Mrs Hawksbee is a charming and clever woman, 
but when he jumps into her skin you see at once 
that she — or he — is no such thing. On the other 
hand Kipling had the engineer, the bridge-builder, 
the Tommy, the sailor in him and those characters 
are alive because, drunk or sober, they are Kipling 
himself. He could not be an Irishman ; very few 
people can ; even Irishmen themselves often find 
it impossible. And therefore Mulvaney is a 
failure.’’ 

‘‘ But all that is only to say ” 

‘‘ Don’t interrupt me, please. I want to talk. 
Perhaps I have caught the disease from Miss 
Aveling.” 

‘‘ Fire away. Have you anything to say about 
Hardy ? ” 

“ Yes. His peasants are not real peasants. 
Real peasants do not think and speak as Hardy 
makes his do. They don’t think much in any way 
— they have not the words to think with — and their 
actions are nearly instinctive. Hardy’s peasants 
arc Hardy himself, in peasant clothes and with 
what he thinks would be his outlook if he were a 
peasant. That is wdiat makes them so intensely 
interesting.” 

‘‘ If I created a villain ” 

‘‘ That’s easy. Everybody has a good deal of 
the villain in his personality. We are all potential 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 227 

murderers, brigands and pirates. The theologians 

call it original sin, but ’’ 

No theology, if you please. The weather is 
too fine.’^ 

‘‘ Very good. Now answer me this : Do you 
know what drove you to write books ? ” 

‘‘ I got the itch out in Canada.’’ 

That’s no answer.” 

‘‘ Well, what is the answer ? ” 

‘‘It was a burning desire to express your own 
personality. You saw no other w'ay to do it, 
and ” 

“ Come now. Don’t be personal.” 

“ I won’t, i’ll take somebody else. Let me see. 
Yes, I’ll take W^. J. Locke. He was an architect. 
He simply dared not express his real, whimsical, 
fantastic, romantic, sentimental self in town-halls, 
warehouses, or villas. What kind of a town-hall 
do you think the writer of The Beloved Vagabond 
and Jaffrey and the rest would have produced if 
he had put his real self into it ? What would the 
local committee, appointed to consider the various 
designs, have thought of his ? But he wanted to 
express himself. He wanted to let out his whim- 
sicalities and his sentiment. Fortunately he found 
his medium. He has expressed himself in his 
books.” 

“ That may be so. I don’t know. I have never 
thought about it. All the same ” 

“ Most people who become writers are driven 
to that method of expressing their personality 
because they have found no other way to do so. 


228 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


How many writers have been doctors, clergymen, 
architects, journalists ? All these professions afford 
little outlet for personality. They are very cabined 
occupations. The artist or the musician seldom 
or never writes a book ; if he does it’s a book of 
reminiscences after his work is finished. He has 
found his outlet. Shy people, too, like Barrie, 
find in writing the only possible means of giving 
themselves to the world.” 

“ It’s all very fine,” said Raynham, smiling 
indulgently at Ella. But I’m going to insist upon 
going back to the beginning of your thesis. And 
I am going to be personal. I have studied you. 
I have not had as many opportunities as I should 
have liked, but I have made the best of what I 
could get. I believe your conduct here has in it 

something of the heroic and ” 

‘‘ Good gracious ! Don’t be absurd.” 

‘‘ That’s not fair. You had your innings. I 
didn’t interrupt you when you got going.” 

I must try, I suppose, to keep silent.” 

“ If I make you, or some one modelled on you, 
tlic heroine, or probably you would like it better if 
I say a protagonist in a novel, do you actually 
think that I should simply borrow your skin and 
speak myself through your lips ? Cannot I under- 
stand the real you well enough to write your words 
and describe your actions ? ” 

“You cannot understand me well enough to 
know my thoughts and comprehena my motives. 
You may guess at them, but your guesses, except 
in the very simplest cases, will be wrong. That is 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


229 

particularly the fact with motives. Even lawyers, 
I understand, who will dare almost anything, give 
up motives in despair. For example ; even while 
we are talking about books, or characters in books, 
my thoughts are in Darchester. There is threaten- 
ing of trouble there and ” 

“ I have heard. In Jack Challenor’s workshops.” 

Yes,” Ella replied and she hung her head to 
conceal the flush that rose to her cheeks. “ I know 
the men well and I long to be with them. You 
probably thought that I was concerned only with 
my little theory about novels and my little estab- 
lishment in the vicarage.” 

‘‘ I ventured to hope that you spared me just a 
trifle ” 

I did. I do. I am most grateful to you for 
all this.” She waved a hand in such a way that 
Sydney Raynham, if he had been conceited enough, 
might easily have thought that he was not only a 
creator of characters in books but also of the bay 
and the cliff and the sea and the sky. Sydney, 
however, w'as not conceited. 

‘‘ I am the one to be grateful,” he said quietly, 
dipping his oars into the water. 

They talked about strikes and workers, with 
occasionally the slightest reference to Jack Challe- 
nor, until Ella thought it was time for her to return 
to the vicarage. When Sydney helped her out 
of the boat he retained her hand in his. 

“ Your intuition probably told you,” he said 
with too great calmness, “ that I was about to 
propose to you out there in the boat.” 


230 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


And yours ? ” she asked gently. 

Told me my answer. We shall always be 
friends. And you must admit,” he added with a 
wry smile, “ that I w^as able, for once at any rate, to 
think your thoughts.” 

“ I admit, gratefully, that you are a very gallant 
gentleman.” 

She went back, rather slowly, to the vicarage. 
He rowed straight out to sea. When he came back 
the little lighthouse at the harbour was winking 
its message into the night. 


CHAPTER XVI 


I T was impossible for two people like Miss 
Minchin and Miss Aveling to live in the same 
house without quarrelling. Probably it is 
impossible for any two people, even deaf mutes, 
to live together without some altercation. When 
a dispute arose between Ella’s two guests there 
was this difference between their methods of con- 
ducting hostilities : Miss Minchin observed the 
rules of the ring and fought cleanly as a lady should, 
but Miss Aveling threw off all restraint and broke 
every rule if it suited her purpose. When a referee, 
in the person of Ella, intervened and stopped the 
fight. Miss Minchin merely shrugged her shoulders. 
But Miss Aveling made faces. 

Miss Aveling boasted, amongst other things, of 
her prowess as a fighter. Her exploits were as 
numerous as those of any swashbuckler of romance, 
and she held an unbroken record of victories. Miss 
Minchin was scarcely a foeman worthy of her 
spleen but as a sparring partner she was better 
than nobody. 

The opening round nearly always followed the 
same course. Miss Aveling, suddenly flinging down 
some manual of devotion or some piece of needle- 
work, would inform Miss Minchin, deep in a novel, 
231 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


232 

that reading got on her nerves. When Miss 
Minchin murmured, without raising her eyes, 

Don’t read then,” Miss Aveling would shout, 

But you get on my nerves too. Who, I would 
like to know, wants to hear about your silly old 
boarding-houses and your stupid old riddles ? ” 
Naturally Miss Minchin would suggest the pos- 
sibility that other people were possessed of a nervous 
system capable of irritation. And so the fight 
would develop until Ella, perhaps mixing the pud- 
ding or peeling the potatoes, would hear the noise 
and rush in, without removing her overall, to 
silence Miss Minchin and receive Miss Aveling’s 
billingsgate. 

Miss Aveling watched Ella leave the vicarage 
grounds on her way to the bay with great glee. 
Her joy increased when she saw, from a safe dis- 
tance, Ella go aboard Sydney Raynham’s boat. 
She returned quickly to the vicarage. Miss Minchin 
usually rested for an hour or so after luncheon. 
Miss Aveling w^as spoiling for a fight ; she would 
enjoy herself no end as soon as old Minchin ” 
put in an appearance. 

Miss Minchin came downstairs in an excellent 
temper. She loved the sunshine, and the day 
alone was sufficient to put her into good humour. 
But, in addition to that, she had discovered an 
excitement in writing down her thoughts that 
made her feel at peace with all the world. 

Miss Aveling smiled grimly at Miss Minchin’s 
beaming face. What business had an old thing 
like her to beam ? It would be more delightful 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


233 

than ever to goad her into anger, to stir her up into 
fury, and finally to overwhelm her with abuse. 

‘‘ It’s frightfully dull here,” Miss Aveling re- 
marked in reply to Miss Minchin’s glowing com- 
mendation of the weather. 

I don’t feel it dull at all,” Miss Minchin replied 
cheerfully. 

Of course you don’t,” said Miss Aveling with 
curling lip. You are too old and too frumpy 
to want social life or to enjoy it if you had it. 
It’s different with me. I need heaps of social life 
and quantities of friends. I am so suited for 
social gaieties and my friends are all so anxious 
to have me. I have always been the life of any 
party I’ve ever been at. I am used to being the 
centre of attraction. Miss Danesford doesn’t do 
her duty at all. She takes my money, but she does 
absolutely nothing to entertain me. She has gone 
off this afternoon by herself.” 

“ Surely she must go sometimes by herself,” 
said Miss Minchin. 

She has no right to go without me,” snapped 
Miss Aveling. And she ought to ask people here 
to meet me. It’s perfectly ridiculous to charge two 
and a half guineas a week and do nothing for it.” 

“ If you are not satisfied,” said Miss Minchin 
perfectly quietly, you must ask your relations 
to remove you.” 

“ Relations ! ” exclaimed Miss Aveling. ‘‘ They’re 
jealous of me. You ought to know that by this 
time.” 

Yes, I ought,” Miss Minchin agreed. 

Q 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


234 

“ What do you mean ? Do you wish to insult 
me and my relations ? They are as good as 
yours.” 

“ No doubt. I meant only that you had men- 
tioned their jealousy several times before.” 

“ I haven’t mentioned them half so frequently 
as you have your old boarding-houses.” 

Perhaps not,” said Miss Minchin who was 
apparently not inclined to fight. 

‘‘ Miss Danesford is out in a boat with a man. 
She thinks that nobody can get a man but herself. 
Faugh I I could always get hundreds. I remem- 
ber going down to the boat-slip at — I forget the 
name of the place — and when I arrived, there was 
no boat to be had. I must have looked dis- 
appointed because four men dashed off at once 
across the bay and brought four boats almost 
before you could say Jack Robinson.” 

‘‘ Dear me ! ” said Miss Minchin opening her 
newspaper. 

“ Dear me 1 Dear you ! What do you mean by 
‘ Dear me ’ ? ” 

“ Merely a polite observation,” replied Miss 
Minchin. “ If it had any meaning it was probably 
that I have never had an adventure like that.” 

“ Do you mean to say that I am lying ? ” de- 
manded Miss Aveling, her face growing scarlet. 

‘‘ Not at all,” Miss Minchin assured her. ‘‘ Not 
at all. And if you don’t mind I should like to 

read this article on ” 

But I do mind. You’re not going to insult 
me and then take cover behind a newspaper.” 


ELLA KEEPS PIOUSE 235 

^ My dear Miss Avcling ! 1 did not insult you. 
Nothing was further from my thoughts.’’ 

“ You said that I was telling lies.” 

‘‘ I did nothing of the kind,” said Miss Minchin 
severely. Her temper was beginning to give. 

What a coward you are 1 ” sneered Miss 
Aveling. 

“ I am not a coward,” retort jd Miss Minchin. 

You seem determined to force a quarrel on me. 
I have neither the strength nor the inclination. 
And I think it is very absurd of you, on a beautiful 
day like this, to ” 

“ There ! ” Miss Aveling interrupted. ‘‘ that 
proves it.” 

‘‘ Proves what ? I really do not follow you.” 

Proves that you are mad. What has a beauti- 
ful day got to do with a quarrel ? Only a lunatic 
would say that she couldn’t quarrel as well on a 
fine day as on a dull one.” 

Apparently you could ” 

But what’s the good ? You’re quite balmy. I 
have suspected it for a long time. Lunatics have 
always enormous appetites, for one thing. They 
never know when they have had enough. Some- 
times they go on eating until they burst. That’s 
what you’ll do one day. See if you don’t.” 

How dare you ? ” gasped Miss Minchin. “ How 
dare you ? You are a — a — a wicked woman.” 

That’s not as bad as a lunatic anyhow. I like 
to be wicked. It shows at least that I have brains. 
It takes a brainy person to be wicked. You 
couldn’t be wicked if you tried,” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


236 

Thank God I ” Miss Minchin ejaculated piously. 

But you tell most frightful lies. That’s an- 
other sign. I have been told so many a time by 
quite clever people. So different from the people 
I have to associate with here. You make up all 
kinds of stupid tales about lodgings and ” 

“ I never made up a tale in my life.” 

And worst of all you talk about writing a book. 
That’s the surest sign of all. At your age ! Why 
people who write books begin at about twelve years 
of age and go on until they’re forty or fifty before 
they can do it. And you think you are going to do 
it straight off at sixty-five.” 

I’m only sixty-three,” said Miss Minchin with 
great dignity. 

‘‘ It doesn’t matter for a year or so. Besides 
you look sixty-seven. I heard you this morning 
walking up and down in your room and making 
the most hideous noises.” 

‘‘ I was trying to capture a ” 

That’s another lie,” interrupted Miss Aveling 
triumphantly. There wasn’t a wasp in the room. 
I saw you through the key-hole.” 

“ I didn’t say there was a wasp. I was trying, 
as I attempted to explain when you interrupted 
me, to capture a ” 

A frog, a toad, a bumble-bee, a jack-ass, a — ” 

“ A conceit, Miss Aveling. A conceit.” 

Miss Aveling laughed. 

“ Perhaps you don’t know what a conceit is,” 
said Miss Minchin, very much annoyed. 

Yes, I do. I studied Shakespeare when I was 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 237 

at school. I played Portia once in The Merchant 
of Venice. I was laughing at the thought of your 
attempting to capture a conceit when you couldnh 
capture a snail.” 

You are really very rude,” Miss Minchin 
protested. 

That’s nothing to what I can be,” Miss Aveling 
informed her. “ Some people so get on my nerves 
that I can’t help being rude. You’re one of them.” 

I think I had better withdraw to my room.” 

“ I will follow you if you do.” 

Yes, as you follow poor Miss Danesford. I 
think it’s positively cruel of you to follow her about 
as you do. You chase her into the scullery, or 
the larder, or her own bedroom, or anywhere ; and 
your tongue never ceases. How she endures it 
I really don’t know. She must be as strong as an 
ox and her nerves must be made of iron.” 

“ She’s paid to have me,” Miss Aveling an- 
nounced. ‘‘ If she does not like it, let her give 
me notice. I only wish she would. I’m sick of 
her and of you and of this dull hole. I never see a 
man from one week’s end to another. I threw the 
breakfast tray downstairs this morning. Women 
are such frightful cats to live with, and a cat that is 
off its head is the limit.” 

“ You’re the rudest, wickedest woman I have 
ever met in all my life,” Miss Minchin affirmed, 
at last thoroughly roused. You ought to be 
ashamed of yourself, but I doubt if you ever will 
be.” 

“ Never ! ” cried Miss Aveling confidently. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


238 

“ What’s the use ? It’s only silly people who are 
ashamed of themselves. Besides, I have done 
nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I’m proud.” 

“ Proud of insulting a woman nearly twenty 
years older than yourself. I will not stand it.” 

‘‘ Don’t.” 

“ I shall be obliged to complain to Miss Danes- 
ford.” 

“ She won’t take any notice. She knows you’re 
balmy. Everybody knows it except yourself. 
Your relations all know it ; that’s why they won’t 
have you.” 

“ You — you — — ” 

“ Go on. Get excited. I love to see you like 
that. It is as good as a pantomime.” 

“ I shall send for Dr Austin at once. I am ” 

“ You horrid cat ! If you dare ” 

‘‘ I must. He said ” 

Miss Aveling seized the poor lady by the arms. 
“ Can’t you see,” she said, shaking her until her 
teeth rattled, ‘‘ that it is only my fun ? I love a 
bit of fun. I always did. That’s why I was so 
popular at garden parties. If you dare to tell Dr 
Austin, I’ll shake ” 

The door was flung open and Mrs Goosey entered. 
She had been looking for Ella in the garden and had 
noticed the scene in the drawing-room as she 
passed the window. 

‘‘ Wot’s all this about ? ” she demanded sternly. 

“ Go away,” said Miss Aveling. “ You’re spoil- 
ing the fun.” 

‘‘ Fun, is it ? ” asked Mrs Goosey, 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 239 

Of course it is,” replied Miss Aveling. Miss 
Minchin and I often have a bit of fun like 
this.” 

I’d like to join in,” said Mrs Goosey, advancing 
towards Miss Aveling. ‘‘ I was always fond of a 
bit of fun myself, especially when it meant shaking 
somebody. The worst of it was my bitin’ fits 
came on me if I shook ’ard. Maybe they won’t if 
I’m pretty careful.” 

Miss Aveling backed away. Her feet became 
entangled. She fell into a chair. Mrs Goosey 
stood over her and, without saying a word, gazed 
at her until she wilted. When Mrs Goosey ordered 
her to her room she went without a word of 
protest. 

When Ella returned to the vicarage, Mrs Goosey 
was waiting for her in the shrubbery. She started 
when Mrs Goosey shouted, but obeyed at once the 
elder lady’s emphatic beckoning. 

Your two cats ’ave been ’avin’ a bit of a 
dust,” said Mrs Goosey, plunging at once in medias 
res. 

“ Good gracious I ” exclaimed Ella, looking in 
alarm towards the vicarage windows. 

“ It’s all over,” Mrs Goosey assured her. “It 
was that Mi' s Aveling’s fault. She’s a perfec t 
devil, she is. Miss Minchin ’as been doin’ better 
since I gave ’or a talkin’ to.” 

“ What happened ? ” Ella asked anxiously. 

“ It wasn’t much at first. Just spittin’ and 
caterwaulin’. But after a bit the Aveling creature 
got her paws on poor old Minchin and ” 


240 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


Did she shake her ? Her aunt said that she 
used to ” 

‘‘ She ’ad just got goin’ when I walked in,” Mrs 
Goosey replied. 

“ I am so glad,” Ella exclaimed. “ I mean, of 
course. I’m glad that you were there.” 

I ’appened to be passin’ the winder. I do wish 
you ’ad invented them there fits instead of me. 
They seem to cow Miss Aveling wonderful. I 
suppose it wouldn’t do for both of us to ’ave them. 
Are they catchin’ do you think ? ” 

Ella smiled. 

“ Wot I reelly want to tell you,” Mrs Goosey 
continued, ‘‘ is that old Miss Minchin is a bit upset. 
She’s walkin’ up and down the drorin’-room wearin* 
the carpet out in one place. She won’t sit down, 
she says, until she sees you.” 

‘‘ I must go to her at once,” Ella exclaimed. 

‘‘ A minute or two more won’t ’urt ’er,” Mrs 
Goosey said, placing a restraining hand on Ella’s 
arm. ‘‘ You must know as it ain’t the shakin’ 
that’s upset ’er.” 

“ What is it ? ” Ella asked anxiously. 

“ It’s because Miss Aveling, the hussy, told ’er 
she’s mad. Nobody likes to be told that, I know, 
and I ’ave ’card that barmy people don’t like it 
any more than anybody else.” 

But Miss Minchin is sane enough,” said Ella. 
‘‘ She’s peculiar, certainly, but I don’t believe she 
is insane.” 


That’s just wot she says ’erself. ‘ 


ve my own 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 241 

loony.’ I felt downright sorry for ’er, I did. All 
the same, if I was you, I’d be careful when I went 
in to ’er. You never know, you know.” 

I’m not at all afraid,” said Ella turning 
to go. 

Would you like me to go with you ? ” asked 
Mrs Goosey. You see, if she got obstropulous, I 
could always ’ave a fit or else I could borrow a broom 
’andle and crack ” 

There is not the slightest need,” cried Ella, 
hurrying away. 

Miss Minchin was undoubtedly excited. She 
was also pacing up and down the room. She 
stopped when Ella appeared. But she gazed at 
her with eyes full of horror. 

This is dreadful,’’ she exclaimed before Ella 
could speak. Positively dreadful.” 

My dear Miss Minchin, you must not ” 

“ She’s wicked, wicked. Am I insane ? ” 

‘‘ Certainly not,” Ella replied in a tone intended 
to produce conviction. 

She said my relations knew. That’s why they 
don’t want me. And Mrs Goosey certainly hinted 
at something of the same.” 

Mrs Goosey didn’t mean anything of the 
kind.” 

“ I can never rest now until ” 

Don’t be absurd. You had better sit down.” 

Miss Minchin obediently sat down ; she fanned 
herself vigorously with the Daily Mail. Mrs 
Goosey, at this juncture, thought she might safely 
withdraw, with her broom handle, from the midst 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


2\2 

of a rambler rose bush growing beside the drawing- 
room window. 

‘‘ I must have a medical opinion,” Miss Minchin 
announced firmly. 

‘‘ I’ll send at once for Dr Austin,” said Ella. 

No, no. I must have a specialist. Dr. Austin 
is an excellent doctor for the stomach, but he might 
be mistaken about the brain. I must have the 
best possible mental specialist. I think they are 
called alienists or something like that. Nothing 
less will ever satisfy me.” 

Miss Minchin was firm on the point and Ella was 
obliged to give way. Sir Henry Pinker was again 
requisitioned. When he came he remembered 
Ella perfectly. 

‘‘ Is she all right ? ” Ella asked eagerly when 
Sir Henry appeared after quite a long interview^ 
with Miss Minchin. 

“ What exactly do you mean ? ” he asked, smil- 
ing at Ella’s eagerness, but watching her closely 
nevertheless. 

“ Is she sane ? ” 

Yes, she’s sane.” 

“ Are you sure ? Oh, I beg your pardon.” 

The specialist patted Ella on the shoulder. 
You’re a plucky little thing,” he said. Miss 
Minchin is perfectly sane, but she is an example 
of the horrible waste of human life and energy 
that went on in the old days. If she had married, 
or if she had been taught to do something useful 
— but what’s the good of talking ? We are cer- 
tainly doing better to-day,” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 243 

I am very glad,” Ella murmured. ‘‘ I mean 
I’m glad her mind is all right.” 

‘‘ Now I am going to prescribe for you,” said 
Sir Henry, looking down benevolently on Ella. 

I have a girl at home about your age and I say 
emphatically that I would rather see her working 
as a charwoman than doing what you arc doing. 
You must fire these people out and have a quiet 
restful time for a few weeks. After that you had 
better go in for a bit of enjoyment. You must let 
Miss Aveling go to an institution where she will 
be looked after by people trained to the work ; 
and Miss Minchin would do best in a country cottage 
with a decent middle-aged woman to look after 
her material needs. You are not cut out for this 
sort of work.” 

‘‘ Do you think I have neglected ” 

‘‘ Good Lord, child ! What are you talking 
about ? You have given too much. And the 
worst thing about you is that you will go on 
doing so, whatever I say to you, so long as they 
remain here. That’s why I say you must fire 
them out. Good-bye.” 

Ella was pondering the specialist’s words when 
Miss Minchin came downstairs. 

Isn’t it splendid ? ” she cried. “ Sir Henry 
says I can go on writing. He says it will do me 
good. And my brain is as sound as a bell. I 
knew it was, but I wanted to make sure.” 

“ I am ever so glad,” said Ella instinctively 
holding out her hands. 

Miss Minchin did not take the proffered hands. 


244 Ella keeps house 

She fell on Ella’s neck and kissed her. For a 
woman guaranteed sane, only a few minutes pre- 
viously, by one of the best men in England, it was 
surely strange that she should attribute her sanity 
in great measure to Ella herself. 


CHAPTER XVII 


I T sometimes happens, or perhaps it would be 
more accurate to say it sometimes happened, 
that certain fortunate people, at certain 
seasons of the year, lived largely upon game or 
turkeys or other rare and expensive meats. It also 
happened that these favoured folks attacked the 
first brace of pheasants or the first turkey with rare 
gusto ; but when the third turkey or the fifth 
brace of pheasants appeared on the dining-table 
the zest had considerably abated ; and the time 
surely came when paterfamilias vowed in tones the 
sincerity of which could not be doubted that it 
was simply scrumptious, or, if he was careful about 
slang for the sake of the children, that it was 
positively delicious, to get back once more to plain 
wholesome roast beef. 

Something of that sort was happening to Mrs 
Danesford. She did not go out so much in the after- 
noons ; she made excuses when the vicar pressed 
her to judge the table deocrations at the flower- 
show ; she waited without excitement for her 
letters in the mornings ; and she began to find 
Miss Aveling in the way when she followed Ella 
about the house. 

“ I can’t understand a bit,” she said to Mrs 
Higginbotham, who was her best friend, “ why 


246 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

Ella has these wretched people in the house. As 
I have said many times, the young people of to-day 
puzzle me immensely. They are not a bit like 
what I was when I was young.’’ 

They’ve altered a lot,” Mrs Higginbotham 
agreed. And I’m inclined to agree with Dean 
Inge or somebody — I never can remember who 
says what, and I always mix up the gloomy dean 
with the lively bishop — Hensley Henson you 
know — anyhow I agree with whoever said it that 
the alteration is not for the better.” 

“ These friends of hers are so fond of talking 
about their insides,” Mrs Danesford lamented. 
“ And they really seem to know an awful lot about 
it. Although I was a doctor’s wife for nearly 
twenty years, I have heard more about insides and 
diseases the last few weeks than I had heard all 
my life previously. I’m sure I don’t know a thing 
about my stomach and liver and heart. And as 
for my spleen, I didn’t know until lately that I had 
one. I thought it was only another word for temper. 
Really I would rather not know so much. The less 
one knows about one’s inside the more comfortable 
one feels. In fact I like to think that I am solid flesh 
instead of a whole complicated lot of tubes and 
valves and things like a motor-car. The other day 
Miss Minchin announced ,at dinner too, that her 
stomach is not the shape everybody thought it was.” 

“ I have heard of a floating kidney I think,” said 
Mrs Higginbotham, knitting her brows, ‘‘ but 
never of a misshapen stomach. Perhaps she has 
given it a twist or something.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


247 

But it wasn’t her own stomach,” said Mrs 
Danesford. 

Whose was it ? Somebody’s we know ? ” 

Everybody’s. It seems that some doctor or 
other has invented a new kind of porridge. Pie 
makes it with bismuth, I think. Anyhow he fills 
people’s stomachs up with this stuff and photor 
graphs them by means of X rays.” 

‘‘ He wouldn’t photograph mine,” muttered Mrs 
Higginbotham. 

“ Nor mine either,” said Mrs Danesford. Be- 
sides I wouldn’t eat his horrid bismuth porridge. 
Oatmeal is bad enough. Anyhow that’s the way 
he discovered that all the pictures you see in ad- 
vertisements arc wrong. The stomach, it appears, 
is not a sack at all. It’s the shape of a golf- 
club.” 

“ I shouldn’t care if it were the shape of a 
tennis-racquet so long as it did its work.” 

Nor I either. But that’s one example of the 
sort of thing Ella listens to all day long. I don’t 
know how she does it. It makes me sick, especially 
when Miss Minchin tells about some poor wretch 
in a boarding-house who swallowed a beetle in 
his stout.” 

“ Ugh 1 ” said i\Jrs Higginbotham. I’m glad 
I don’t drink stout.” 

The worst of it is that Miss Aveling always 
considers it a matter of honour to go one better than 
Miss Minchin. And the wretched men who swal- 
lowed lizards or had stomachs the shape of 
copper kettles all wanted to marry her.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


248 

I should think they did,” scoffed Mrs Higgin- 
botham. 

‘‘ It’s simply horrid to hear them tell diseases 
against one another. One day Miss Minchin told 
us about a girl who did nothing but drop off to 
sleep, like the boy in Pickwick, until it was dis- 
covered that blood was constantly dropping from 
her brain. Did ever you hear of anything so 
ridiculous ? What did it drop into ? Miss Aveling 
immediately remembered a friend who went to 
sleep not only in church but also standing in the 
middle of the street. She was nearly run over, 
one day, by the fire-brigade. After that it was 
found that she had swallowed a nail when a child 
and the nail had gradually worked up, like a needle, 
until it lodged behind her eyes and made her 
sleepy.” 

“ It makes me sleepy tpo,” said Mrs Higgin- 
botham with a yawn. “ I don’t know how your 
daughter puts up with it. It would drive me to 
drink.” 

‘‘ No more do I,” said Mrs Danesford. “ Yet 
she’s with them all day long. I cannot have her 
for five minutes to myself. Miss Minchin is not 
so bad as Miss Aveling. In fact she has improved 
wonderfully these last few days. She has begun 
to write a book. If only Miss Aveling would com- 
mence to write also I should be able to see a little 
more of Ella.” 

“ Can’t you start her off on poetry ? ” Mrs 
Higginbotham asked. ‘‘ I should think she’s the 
sort that does write poems.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 249 

Meanwhile Mrs Goosey was living in a whirl of 
delicious excitement. A lull, temporary no doubt, 
had come to the boot trade, and Alec at last had 
obtained his long promised holiday. She would 
have him for a whole fortnight and, as she dreamt 
about running water the night before he arrived, 
she felt sure that something good would happen 
before he returned to Kettering. 

“You look as if a ’oliday would do you no ’arm,’^ 
Mrs Goosey remarked to Alec as soon as he had 
removed the dust of his journey. 

“ We have been pretty busy, you know,’’ Alec 
replied with an indulgent smile. 

“ Not but wot you’ve improved wonderful since 
the days before you went into the harmy. You 
’aven’t got a spot on your face, and with that new 
way o’ brushin’ your ’air, like a Frenchman I 
suppose, you can’t see where you got that crack 
on the ’ead. They say mountain air’s good for the 
complexion, and I expect you’ve been up in your 
airyplane as ’igh as a mountain many a time.” 

“ That’s a long time ago, mother,” he said with 
a sigh. 

“ There ! You’re still ’ankering after the army 
I do believe,” exclaimed Mrs Goosey, holding up 
her hands. “ I tell you wot it is, it’s time you 
was married and settled down. That’s the best 
thing you can do. More’n that, I’ll interduce you, 
to-day or to-morrow, to the best girl in England 
bar none.” 

Alec smiled. 

“ It’s true,” Mrs Goosey affirmed solemnly. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


250 

And you needn’t look at me like that. I’m not 
sure as she’d ’ave you, but she puts up with me 
and maybe, considering everything, she’d put up 
with you too.” 

I don’t want her to put up with me.” 

“ Wait till you’ve seen ’er. She’s a lady every 
inch of ’er.” 

“ I’ve had enough ” Alec began gruffly. 

You couldn’t ’ave enough of Ella Danesford,” 
Mrs Goosey interrupted. ‘‘ She’s not wot you’d 
call a scarifying lady. I can talk to ’er as easy 
as to you. But, whatever you do, don’t talk to ’er 
about books.” 

‘‘ Books or boots ? ” Alec asked. 

“ Books,” Mrs Goosey replied in such a way that 
there could be no mistake. 

‘‘ But why not ? ” he asked, somewhat puzzled. 

‘‘ Because poor Mr Raynham spoiled his chance 
by talkin’ about books all the time. You see he 
makes books and ’is ’ead is full of them as a factory 
is full o’ boots. He can talk about nothink else. 
It stands to sense that a ’igh-spirited girl would soon 
get tired of that kind of talk. People in Kett’ring 
that make boots think there’s nothing else in the 
world worth talkin’ about, and people elsewhere 
that make books are just the same. Only I don’t 
think myself there’s as much to talk about in books 
as in boots. Not so much variety any’ow.” 

“ What do you think one ought to talk about ? ” 
Alec asked, obviously humouring his mother. 

I forget exackly what your father talked to me 
about, although I do remember he said one cold 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 251 

winter’s night I was like a well-finished pair o’ 
slippers because I was comfortable and warm. 
Still that doesn’t signify. Ella’s different. I think 
I would start in about the beautiful flowers because 
you could give ’er a ’int that she’s the most beautiful 
flower of all.” 

‘‘ I didn’t think you were sentimental, mother.” 

‘‘ No more am I neither ! ” cried Mrs Goosey with 
some excitement. It ain’t sentimental to love 
flowers — nor to love girls neither. It’s sentimental 
to look soppy and talk slush. I do ’ope you’ll not 
talk slush to Ella. That would put the lid on.” 

“ What is slush ? ” Alec asked. 

“ Slush is slush,” Mrs Goosey replied. It’s 
slush to talk about your ’eart’s blood, or threaten 
to blow out your brains, or pine away and die, 
or anythink of that kind. You ’ear a lot of slush 
in the theatre where nice-lookin’ young fellers wot 
ought to know better go prancin’ up and down the 
stage talkin’ about their feelin’s or shoutin’ out 
their ’eart’s broken. If their ’earts were really 
broke they’d say less about it.” 

I quite agree with you, mother. A man can’t 
talk about the things he feels most.” 

Nor a girl neither. A girl likes a feller to say 
straight out he loves ’er better than anythink or 
anybody and that he wants ’er like mad. If you 
w’ant to be poetical you might say you loved ’er 
fit to bust, because you do feel like that, or that you 
could squeeze ’er till she ’adn’t a bit o’ breath left 
in ’er body because a girl does like to be squeezed 
till she nearly dies,” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


252 

I dare say. All the same Pd rather talk to 
you than to this paragon of a girl — ’’ 

“ Get on with you,” Mrs Goosey interrupted. 

It ain’t natural to want to talk to your old mother 
when you might be talkin’ to a nice young girl. 
Not but wot I love to ’ear you talk to me and even 
to ’ear you say you’d rather. But it ain’t natural. 
I’ve ’ad my time. You used to come runnin’ to 
me, specially when you’d ’urt yourself, and sit on 
my knee and tell me all about it. Them was 
my days. Now you need somebody light and 
dainty to sit on your knee and tell you wot she 
thinks and ’opes and dreams about. There are 
some fool mothers in this world, but the biggest 
fools is the ones that think they’re goin’ to keep 
their boys from doin’ wot God made ’em for.” 

“ If all mothers were as sensible as you the 
world ” 

My Lord, Alec, don’t call me sensible. I ain’t 
sensible. And I fair hates sensible people. Sen- 
sible people never find any think to laugh at. 
They’re always as solemn as Methody preachers. 
And they’re the kind as goes ’ome and thinks it 
over and looks at their bank book before they give 
a halfpenny to a blind beggar. And then they 
don’t do it. I like to do things without thinkin’ 
about ’em at all, just when the fancy takes me so 
to say. That ain’t sensible, but you get far more 
fun in that way.” 

‘‘ Perhaps you do. But that’s hardly what you 
are advocating about this girl.” 

“ There’s no ’arm in bein’ sensible sometimes,” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 2^3 

Mrs Goosey admitted. And specially when it 
comes to gettin’ married. It’s a big thing, is 
gettin’ married, unless you ’appen to be one of them 
there actresses as think no more about it than 
gettin’ a new frock and not so much sometimes. 
You see, if you do give away more’n you can afford 
one week, you can always lie low for a bit and wait 
for your next housekeepin’ money. But if you 
get married in a ’urry and without knowin’ properly 
about the girl you may be landed with something 
worse than grubbin’ along for a week or two with- 
out any money. 

“ It’s not so easy to know a girl properly,” 
Alec adventured, although he did not look at his 
case. 

Not for a man,” said Mrs Goosey quickly. 

Most girls, specially if they ’ave got dreamy 
eyes, can take a man in as easy as winkin’. Men 
are all right when they’re sellin’ boots or fightin’ 
Germans or drivin’ steam-engines, but they’re 
poor creatures when it comes to takin’ care of 
themselves against a distressful-lookin’ woman. 
But women know the tricks of women and are not 
to be took in by sleepy eyes and tremblin’ lips. 
Pve known Ella Danesford for a long time now, 
and she’s one of the best. I’ve seen her with men 
and I’ve never once seen ’cr turn up ’er eyes like 
a duck in a thunderstorm. There’s very few as 
that can be said about.” 

‘‘Nonsense, mother,” Alec protested. “Girls 
are very different nowadays from ” 

“ Granted ! ” his mother interrupted. “ They’re 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


254 

different in a good many ways, and some ways for 
the better. But in the matter o’ pleasin’ men 
and gettin’ round them they’re just the' same as 
ever they were. Eve was in the ’appy position of 
not ’avin’ any other women ’angin’ round to take 
Adam from ’er, and so she ’ad no reason to learn 
’ow to please the poor man, but all the same I’m 
ready to stake my next week’s ’ousekeepin’ that 
she played the very same tricks on ’im when she 
wanted ’im to eat her apple as any woman to-day 
plays on her ’usband when she wants ’im to buy 
’er a new ’at. You needn’t tell me women are 
goin’ to change their nature because they wear 
short frocks and earn their own livin’. They can’t 
do it. And, even if they could, they wouldn’t 
be such darned fools.” 

Alec was by no means eager to meet Ella. But 
his mother had determined that no time should be 
lost. He was introduced that very evening. Mrs 
Goosey thought, with pride, that he bowed just like 
one of the nice young men on the stage. As for 
Ella, Mrs Goosey was quite sure that she talked 
to Alec every bit as nicely as she talked to Sydney 
Raynham or even to Jack Challenor. Fortunately 
Alec remembered to keep off the subject of books, 
but it was just as well that Mrs Goosey herself 
was present to turn the subject once or twice away 
from motor-cars. 

Next morning Mrs Goosey discovered that she 
had quite forgotten to give Ella a recipe, cut from 
the varied pages of the Daily Mail, for a wholesome 
and economic pudding. She could not possible 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


25s 

leave the house herself and Ella, she knew, wanted 
to make the pudding for that day’s luncheon. 
Alec must take it ; he could go swiftly through the 
hole in the hedge ; he would be sure to meet Ella 
in the grounds. 

Alec wanted to clean his motor-cycle. He also 
wished to try on a new suit of clothes. He had 
bought a new book which he was simply dying to 
read. And he could not possibly get through the 
morning without another swim in the sea. 

When he came back through the hedge, his 
mother was waiting for him. She was tremendously 
excited. He had been absent quite a long time. 

“ Well ? ” Mrs Goosey asked eagerly. 

‘‘ I think you might have told me ” Alec 

began. 

‘‘ Good Lord, I forgot,” Mrs Goosey exclaimed. 
‘‘ You don’t mean to say as Miss Aveling got ’old 
of you ? ” 

‘‘ As soon as ever I was through the hedge, a 
woman lashed up to me and asked if I was Mrs 
Goosey’s new son.” 

The faggit ! ” 

She said that everybody was most tremendously 
excited about my coming.” 

I wish I’d told you about the fits,” said Mrs 
Goosey regretfully. 

Fits ? Does she have fits ? ” 

“ No. But I do.” 

‘‘ Whatever do you mean, mother ? Have you — ” 

“ You could ’ave them too. You’re not like 
Ella. She can’t, worse luck. But you’re my son 


2s6 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

and you could ’ave ’em nicely. I expect they 
run in the blood like bad temper.” 

You terrify me, mother.” 

They do Miss Aveling as well. That’s wot 
they’re for.” 

‘‘ But— but ” 

‘‘ They’re not real fits, you know. I just 
pretend ” 

‘‘ Thank God 1 You gave me an awful fright.” 

“ Did I now ? My poor boy, I wouldn’t ” 

‘‘ Never mind,” Alec interrupted. I under- 
stand now. You pretend to have these fits so as 
to choke her off. I am not a bit surprised.” 

“ Did she talk your ’ead orf ? ” Mrs Goosey 
asked sympathetically. 

“ Near about. I never heard such a clatter in 
my life. It was worse than the engine of an old 
bus.” 

‘‘ It’s worse than anythink on earth. But you 
see she can’t ’elp it. She’s a bit touched. Gorn 
wrong in ’er upper story. She’s the worst of the 
three.” 

“ The three ! ” Alec gasped. What three ? ” 

“ There are two more,” Mrs Goosey explained. 
‘‘ One’s as quiet as a mouse and you never see ’er 
about. The other ’as done a lot better si nee I took 
’er in ’and cornin’ up from the Pictures.” 

“ Do you mean to say that Miss Danesford has 
these three people stopping with her ? ” 

She ’as. And I wouldn’t ’ave them in my 
’ouse for all the money in Kett’ring. Not that 
she would let me ’ave ’em ” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


t$7 

‘‘ By Jove ! Alec interrupted, looking scared. 

You won’t catch me on that side of the hedge 
again. Talk about Germans ” 

‘‘ Don’t you go and make any rash promises,” 
Mrs Goosey advised. Wasn’t there a man in the 
Bible did that and somethink ’appened to ’im ? 
I forget wot it was, but I don’t ’old with ” 

“ I think the rashness would consist in going there 
again,” said Alec with some vigour. And, by 
George, I’ll repair that hole in the hedge at once. 
That woman might come through.” 

‘‘ She’d better not,” Mrs Goosey said grimly. 
“ Talk about fits. I’d ’ave forty fits if she showed 
as much as ’er nose on this side of the ’edge.” 

“ I hope you won’t forget any more puddings 
anyhow,” said Alec, moving towards the house. 

“ There I If that Aveling woman ’asn’t druv 
everythink else out of my ’ead. Did you see 
Ella ? ” 

“ Yes. I gave her the recipe.” 

“ And did you ’ave a bit of a chat with ’er ? ” 

“ I couldn’t very well push the newspaper cutting 
into her hand and run away.” 

“ Course not. What do you think of ’er, now 
you’ve ’ad ’er by yourself ? ” 

“ She’s a splendid girl, right enough.” 

“ I knew you’d think so,” cried Mrs Goosey, 
beaming with delight. 

“ There’s no humbug about her,” Alec added. 

“ Not a bit,” Mrs Goosey' agreed. 

“ She’s jolly sensible too,” Alec added with a 
smile. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


258 

“ She’s sensible but not too sensible,” said Mrs 
Goosey. I mean to say she wouldn’t worrit 
you with ’er sensibleness.” 

I shouldn’t think she would.” 

‘‘ And didn’t you see ’ow kind-’earted she is ? ” 
Mrs Goosey asked. 

“ I could see that she appreciated any kindness 
shown to her.” 

She does so, but she won’t let you show enough. 
She’s got ’er proper pride, she ’as.” 

But her pride doesn’t make her snobbish.” 

Wot’s that ? ” 

‘‘ She isn’t stuck up,” Alec explained. 

‘‘ Stuck up I ” exclaimed Mrs Goosey, turning up 
her eyes. “ Doesn’t she talk to me as if I were ’er 
equal ? And doesn’t she even tell me about the 
things she makes for ’erself, things you wouldn’t 
know any think about ? I should just think she 
ain’t stuck up.” 

She’s clever too,” Alec added. 

Clever ! She can do anythink with ’er ’ands. 
I never saw anybody to beat ’er. The way she 
can cook and sew ” 

‘‘ I meant she’s a good judge of character.” 

‘‘ Oh ! Wot you want to say is that she can size 
anybody up.” 

“ Something like that.” 

‘‘ She just can. But tell me, Alec, did you say 
anythink about the flowers ? ” 

I don’t believe I did.” 

‘‘ Maybe you brought in the birds ? She sings, 
you know.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 259 

I didn’t mention the birds.” 

Mrs Goosey sighed. 

But surely you said soinethink about ’er looks. 
I don’t mean as you’d say right out at first that 
she’s the prettiest girl in England. But just a ’int 
that she’s good-lookin’. I liked it myself.” 

I am sorry to say that looks were never 
mentioned.” 

‘‘ Goodness me I Wot did you talk about ? ” 

Must I tell you ? ” he asked quizzically. 

Not if it’s private. But I must say I would 
like to know a bit about it.” 

It wasn’t private by any means.” 

Then maybe it’s ’ardlv worth the tellin’. 1 
did ’ope ” 

“ It’s quite worth telling.” 

‘‘ Wot was it then ? ” she asked although she 
did not appear to expect much from the answer. 

It was about you, mother. We talked about 
you all the time. Miss Danesford told me what a 
good friend you had been to her and how much she 
liked you. And I told her ” 

“ Well of all the ! ” Mrs Goosey interrupted 

with a dazed expression in her eyes. ‘‘ Never ’card 
of such a thing in my life ! For a smart, well-dressed, 
young feller like you to talk to a pretty girl like ’er 
about your mother ! I calls it ridiculus. Never 
’card the like in ” 

She walked into the house, completely overcome 
by the ridiculousness of the new generation. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


FTER tea, the same afternoon, Ella stood 



for a minute at the vicarage gate. She 


looked at the long stretch of white dusty 


road leading away from the sea towards Midlington. 
Jack Challenor’s car would come no more. She 
turned her eyes away from the road and gazed, 
only half seeing, at the long blue line of the sea. 
The continuous clatter of Miss Aveling’s restless 
tongue reached her. What would she give, she 
thought, for the rest and quiet of a home free 
from strange people and for a brain no longer tor« 
tured by insane maundering. The poorest fisher- 
man’s wife in Midlington was better off than she 
was : her home was her own and her thoughts were 
not disturbed by unending and meaningless chatter. 

A motor-car dashed round the curve leading 
from the town. It pulled up suddenly beside Ella. 
Sydney Raynham raised his cap, turning eagerly 
towards her. 

I’m off to Darchester,” he said. Will you 
come ? ” 

‘‘ I’m afraid I cannot leave my household,” Ella 
replied with a forced smile. 

I think you will,” said Raynham, opening the 
door of the car. 


260 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 261 

Is there anything wrong ? '' Ella asked, going 
pale. 

Only a strike,” Raynham replied, noticing her 
loss of colour. 

“ Where ? ” Ella asked. 

“ At Jack Challenor’s works. It isn’t declared 
yet, but there is to be an informal meeting at seven 
o’clock to-night to discuss the business. It is 
rather an interesting ” 

But Ella had gone. In three minutes she was in 
the car beside Raynham. 

Can you do it in time ? ” she asked. 

‘‘ With luck,” he replied, releasing his brake 
and throwing the engine into gear. 

Ella was no speed maniac, but during that ride 
if Sydney Raynham removed his foot for a second 
from the accelerator pedal she glared at him as 
though she hated him. If the speedometer fell to 
forty she frowned at it until it mended its ways. 
When carts on the road were slow to give room 
and the mud-guards of the car touched their wheels 
in passing, she smiled her appreciation of her 
driver’s recklessness. 

Raynham slackened speed when the car began 
to pass through the suburbs of Darchester. Until 
then he had not said a single word to Ella. He had 
certainly glanced at her several times, but had found 
her attention devoted to the speedometer and the 
accelerator. He was wise enough to hold his peace. 

The interesting thing about this threatened 
strike,” he began, now that his words would no 
longer be flung behind the^car. 


262 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


Yes,” Ella interrupted. But can’t we go 
more quickly ? ” 

If we do we shall be held up by a policeman.” 

“ We needn’t see him,” Ella suggested. The 
works are at the other end of the town.” 

I don’t see the connection,” Raynham ven- 
tured to say. 

Ella flashed a glance of scorn. It was no time 
for remarks of that kind. 

‘‘ I am particularly interested,” Raynham said 
firmly, after a pause, “ because these men of Chal- 
lenor’s have about everything that the workers 
have so far demanded. They have gone one better 
than WTiitley councils and are co-partners in the 
business. Why they should ever dream of striking 
is quite beyond me.” 

We shall know all about it when we get there 
— if we ever do. We are simply crawling. Can’t 
you let her out a bit ? ” 

Did you see that last policeman ? ” 

A horrid-looking man. I’m sure he beats his 
wife.” 

“ He had almost made up his mind to stop us.” 

But you wouldn’t stop — Hillo 1 We’re nearly 
there. Turn to the left.” 

The hall at the Mechanics’ Institute was by no 
means full when Ella and Sydney Raynham quietly 
entered. The first speaker had just mounted the 
platform and all eyes were fixed on him so that Ella 
and her friend sat down quite unnoticed. Ella’s 
eyes, after a quick glance at the speaker, wandered 
round the audience. Although their faces were 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 263 

turned away from her, she recognized many old 
friends. She was curiously glad to be back amongst 
them even though at a strike meeting. A few men, 
most of them young, were strangers to her. 

The speaker was glib and facile. He was per- 
fectly at home on the platform and knew all the 
tricks of the experienced speaker. Ella expected 
something new in the way of argument but, as the 
man went on, she found that he used only the usual 
cliches of the uneducated demagogue. Labour 
all over the world had discovered its power and 
was determined to use it. Men who had fought 
in the trenches would never be satisfied with the 
old conditions. Capital was doomed and rightly 
doomed. If all the capital in England were heaped 
in that hall it would never produce one motor-car. 
Labour was the chief agent in production and was 
destined to be the only one. Capitalists were 
afraid of labour, they were trembling in their shoes, 
they knew that their hour had almost come. That 
was why they threw sops to Labour. Because, 
after all, Whitley Councils, co-partnership, and the 
rest, were mere sops. But sops would not stem 
the rising tide. 

Sydney Raynham turned to Ella and raised his 
eyebrows, but Ella was too intent on the speaker 
to take much notice of Raynham. Besides, she 
was not satisfied that the orator was mixing his 
metaphors. 

The speaker admitted that the hour when Labour 
would take over the entire control of industry had 
not vet struck. He had no doubt whatever that it 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


264 

would strike and before long. In the meantime it 
was the duty of the workers to wring from the 
employers the last possible farthing. That was 
what enlightened workers were doing in other 
trades. In this particular case co-partnership was 
a delusion and a snare. The division of profits was 
a farce. The proportion was too absurd almost to 
be examined. It was up to them to demand, 
pending the time when they would take it all, a 
substantial increase in the amount divided amongst 
them as their share of the profits. 

The speaker elaborated some of his points at great 
length. He made some play with statistics. And 
he examined the balance-sheet of the motor-w^orks 
with meticulous care. He admitted that Mr Jack 
Challenor was probably as good an employer of 
labour as any of his fraternity, but it was obvious 
that Mr Challenor was also a gentleman who knew 
how to look after himself when it came to a division 
of profits. His smile^ when he had finished, showed 
that he was quite well pleased with the impression 
he had made. 

He was followed by a young gentleman in quite 
a smart suit and with his hair brushed back from 
a low brow. His name, it appeared, was Brown. 
When he leaped on the platform some of the older 
men produced their pipes. 

Brown, with even more than youth’s usual fer- 
vour, told the men once again of the awakening to 
strength of the young giant Labour. He prophesied 
great things in the future. Wlten he spoke of the 
present he was rather scornful of the caution that 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 265 

older men had shown and sketched lightly but 
vividly the course that brave men ought to 
follow. 

All this was, of course, mere skirmishing. The 
real fight was to commence later on. Meanwhile 
the first speaker, no doubt with a view to test 
the strength of the opposing force, or to find out 
if there was any enemy to fight, invited any com- 
rade present to state his views. 

Everybody expected the usual pause. There 
was no pause. Ella jumped to her feet and, in 
spite of Sydney Raynham’3 whispered injunction 
that it was too soon, made her way rapidly to the 
platform. There was a look of bewilderment on 
the faces of most of the men when they saw a grey 
cloak float past them apparently on the wings of 
the wind. 

When Ella reached the platform she took off her 
cloak and flung it on a chair. She turned and faced 
the audience, a slight girlish figure in a pink 
summer frock. The only trace of nervousness that 
Sydney Raynham could detect was the clasping 
and unclasping of her fingers. Her eyes kindled 
when she looked into the men’s faces. They, for 
their part, recognized her immediately. First they 
whispered her name. Then they broke into a 
rousing cheer of welcome. 

The cheer brought tears to Ella’s eyes. She 
bowed her head in acknowledgment of their wel- 
come, but at the same time a swift hand was passed 
across her eyes. The men were not slow to notice. 
Here was some one w^ho really cared for them. 


266 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


Their cheers grew louder. Then a deathlike hush 
fell on the hall. 

“ Pm glad, ever so glad, to see you all again,’’ 
said Ella instinctively holding out her hand. 

‘‘ Not as glad as we are to see you,” bawled Spud 
Clarke, and another cheer proved that he spoke 
for at least a majority. 

I don’t think this is quite in order,” the original 
speaker said, smiling to cover a certain embarrass- 
ment. 

“ But you invited anyone to speak,” said Ella, 
opening her eyes very wide. 

‘‘ I meant, of course ” 

Go on, miss,” cried a hard rasping voice. 

Never mind wot Jimmy Bell says.” 

Jimmy Bell took his seat with quite a good grace. 
He was not particularly scared at anything a girl 
might say. 

‘‘ Thank you, George,” said Ella, recognizing 
George Ramsay’s voice. I’m going on. But I 
would like to know, first of all, who the nice boy 
was who has just spoken to you.” 

‘‘ Ikey Brown,” yelled a dozen voices. , 

Never 1 ” cried Ella, looking much more 
amazed than she felt. ‘‘ Hasn’t he grown ? Why, 
when I was here, and it’s not much more than six 
months ago, he was a little chap who had just 
begun to shave. It’s wonderful. And now he’s 
clever enough to teach ” 

“ He’s a cheeky little puppy,” somebody growled. 

“ We’ll make a man of him one day,” Ella 
affirmed sweetly. ‘‘ But he has still something to 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 267 

learn before be can teach men old enough to be 
his father or even his grandfather.” 

We take no stock on hm,” somebody informed 
Ella amid a chorus of approval. 

I don’t know a great deal about what has been 
going on since I left,” Elia said very deliberately. 

But I do know Jimmy Beil, the man who has 
spoken to you and the man who appears to wish 
to lead you into a strike. I’m not going to meet 
his arguments ; dozens of you could do that better 
than I could. I’m not fond of argument, although 
I am a woman. Besides, I agree with a good deal 
of what he has said. I did think it rather stupid 
of him, however, to trot out the very ancient saying 
that if all the capital in England w^ere piled up in 
this hall it w'ould never produce a car. Of course 
it wouldn’t. Nobody ever said it would. At the 
same time if all the labour in England — that would 
be a nice lot — were collected in Challenor’s works, 
even if Jimmy himself were in command, it could 
not proQuee a car either. Material and machines 
would be needed and those things are capital as you 
all know. But there 1 That’s a woman all over. 
I said I wasn’t going to argue and immediately 
start in ” 

A laugh interrupted Ella. Sydney Raynham, 
watching her closely, believed that it was the very 
thing she was working for. 

“ Some of you young fellows,” Ella continued, 
looking at a group of men who were strangers to her, 
‘‘ don’t know" much about Jimmy Bell. When you 
were scattered over the face of the earth you had no 


268 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

chance of meeting him. He was not in France, or 
in Servia, or in Palestine, or anywhere abroad. 
He was here in England. He was amongst us 
women. Well, he was mostly there ; we certainly 
missed him when a Zepp happened to come over ; 
I don’t know where he was then. Perhaps he’ll 
tell you later on.” 

Bell rose to his feet and made a step forward. 
Ella turned and looked at him. He sat down. 

I admit that he worked for you here at home. 
In fact he worked at the next bench to mine. He’s 
a hefty, big chap as you see. He’s as strong as an 
ox. He could throw me off this platform as far 
as the row where Spud is sitting — if he dared. 
And yet— I kept better time, and I turned out 
more stuff than he did. He was much fonder of 
talk than of work. I think he still is.” 

Some of the men laughed, but one of the 
younger men rose and reminded Ella, quite politely, 
that this was not argument. 

I know it isn’t,” Ella replied. It’s rank 
personalities. And it would be horribly mean and 
underhand if this whole business were not a per- 
sonal matter. Jimmy Bell is working not for you 
but for himself. He wants to become a leader, a 
paid leader. There are a good many leaders already 
in the Labour world, but Jimmy sees an opportun- 
ity amongst men who have adopted co-partnership. 
He can’t begin with the great soap combinations, 
but he can begin with a comparatively small firm. 
If he has even a trifling success here he may get 
a good talking job elsewhere. I ask you all whether 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 269 

a man like Jimmy Bell or a man like Jack Challenor 
is the better friend. Bell is working entirely for 
himself, and he is producing nothing but agitation 
and unrest ; Jack Challenor is working for himself 
naturally, but also for you, and he is producing 
things of real value. The one has proved himself 
— I hate to say it — a shirker and a coward ; the 
other is no coward and he has over and over again 
proved himself your friend. As far as I am con- 
cerned 1 would not follow Jimmy Bell a yard, but 
I would follow Jack Challenor as long as my feet 
would hold out.” 

Raynham, at the back of the wall, looked ad- 
miringly at Ella and continued to look at her after 
she sat down. He knew that she shrank from 
such a scene as this ; that she had done violence, 
deliberately, to her sense of honour ; that she 
outraged her sense of modesty in her final mention 
of Jack Challenor. But she was a woman, and 
she was fighting for the man she loved. When a 
woman fights for her lover she will use any weapons 
available. 

Bell came forward after a brief pause. He ap- 
peared perfectly self-possessed. If he were in- 
wardly boiling with rage he had sufficient self- 
control to hide his real feelings. 

I am sure,” he said genially, ‘‘ we have heard 
Miss Danesford with considerable interest. We 
are unfortunately familiar enough with the same 
thing as we see here in her, both amongst men anct 
women. In the army men belonging to different 
classes fraternized in the trenches ; when the)- 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


270 

returned to civil life— well, we know what hap- 
pened. Women in factories and elsewhere, during 
the war, became what they called democratic. 
Unfortunately their feelings changed when they 
returned to the old life. Miss Danesford is an 
instance of what I refer to. She spent some years 
among the workers and believed herself one of them. 
But she never was. She returned to the capitalist 
class to which she belongs and to-day she speaks 
as one of them. I don’t blame her. It is only 
natural. At the same time it would be great 
folly for you to allow her words to carry any 
weight.” 

“ I believe she’s the same gel as ever she was,” 
Spud Clarke said defiantly. 

So do I,” Bell agreed. 

Then wot are ye gassin’ about,” asked Spud. 

“ She’s not one of us,” Bell replied. 

‘‘ Course she’s not,” said Spud. Does she 
look like one of us ? ” 

She’s thoroughbred,” Jim Parsons interjected. 

‘‘ Well then,” said Bell triumphantly, she has 
no right here.” 

‘‘ That’s bunkum,” said Spud. ‘‘ She knows 
us and we know ’er.” 

But she’s a capitalist,” urged Bell. “ She’s 
your born enemy.” 

I’ll be damned if she is,” cried Spud, bursting 
with rage. A girl as sat up nights in my ’ouse 
when my missus and the kids ’ad flu ain’t no born 
enemy. It’s all bl — —I mean you’re talkin’ 
through your ’at.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 271 

I tell you she has gone back on you all,” cried 
Bell, losing patience. 

‘‘ And I tell you youhe a damned liar,” yelled 
Spud. 

What has she been doing since she left the 
factory ? ” asked Bell with an air of victory. 
‘‘ Will some one tell us that ? ” 

“ I will,” said Raynham, rising and making his 
way through the hall. 

“ And who are you ? ” demanded Bell trucu- 
lently, eyeing Raynham up and down. 

‘‘ I’m a worker all right,” Raynham replied. 
‘‘ I’m a member of three unions. And I’m a friend 
of Miss Danesford.” 

‘‘You have no right ” 

“ Chuck that mate,” one of the men interrupted. 
“ A friend of Miss Danesford’s is good enough for 
us.” 

“ Thank you, mates,” said Raynham. “ I’ll 
not keep you long.” 

Raynham told the men, as he had once before 
told Dr Austen, what Ella had been doing since she 
left the factory. The men listened eagerly. 

“ I tell you what it is,” Raynham said in con- 
clusion, “ I have worked as a stevedore in Liver- 
pool and as a lumberman in Canada, I have been 
down on my uppers many a time and have had to 
take any old job that came along, but I have never 
done anything like the work that girl has done. 
All the time her heart was here, my lads, here with 
you and your v^ork. Every time she happened 
to see Jack Challenor almost the first w^ords were : 


272 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

‘ How are the men ? How’s Spud Clarke and Jim 

Parsons and Billy — Billy ” 

Fearn,” roared a score of voices. 

That’s him. And many others. Is that a born 
enemy ? Is that the way a ” 

Cheers stopped his questions. 

This meeting is becoming a farce,” growled 
Bell, coming forward once more. 

‘‘ ’Ere, ’ere 1 ” cried Spud. 

It’s all through allowing a woman to interfere 
in men’s work ” 

‘‘ Good job too,” said Billy Fearn, who w'as 
tremendously bucked by Ella’s remembrance of him. 

‘‘ This gentleman,” said Bell, emphasizing the 
noun, “ claims to be a worker. Look at his clothes. 
Hark at his accent. Notice his hands — as soft as a 
woman’s. He never did a stroke of work in his 
life.” 

Raynham stepped forward and held out his hands. 

“ Soft,” he said. Like a woman’s. But this 
gentleman’s hands are hard, and his muscles like 
steel. Very well. If half a dozen of you chaps will 
clear a twelve foot ring — it won’t take twelve 
seconds — I’ll see what my soft hands and flabby 
muscles can do against his iron bands.” 

Raynham took off his coat and rolled up his 
shirt sleeves. Twenty or thirty willing youngsters, 
their faces all on the grin, removed the chairs from 
the first three or four rows. Raynham leaped 
lightly to the floor.” 

‘‘ Come on, Jimmy,” shouted one or two of the 
young men. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 273 

“ Shall 1 help you off with your coat ? ’’ asked 
Billy Fearn. 

ril be your second, Jimmy,” another volun- 
teered. 

1 wo to one on the stranger ! ” 

‘‘ Six to four against Bell.” 

“ Six to four ! A hundred to one. Lie’s white- 
livered.” 

The shouts grew louder and more personal until 
at last somebody suggested that Bell should be 
forced to fight. A rush was made to the platform. 
Bell shrank back and, when Ella came forward, he 
took up a position behind her. The men stopped, 
disgust writ large on every face. 

Ella held up her hand and obtained silence at 
once. 

“ He doesn’t want to fight,” she said. 

And Raynham, watching her again, saw how 
eagerly her eyes swept the faces of the men in front 
of her. 

“ No, by Gawd,” cried Spud Clarke. “ Not 
when there’s a man here to face him. He’ll only 
fight a man wot isn’t ’ere.” 

Ella’s eyelids fell. But a twitching at the corners 
of her mouth showed, to Raynham at all events, 
that she had received the reply she wanted. 

“ That’s it,” cried a score of voices. 

The meeting broke up in confusion, as a reporter 
would have said if he had been present. The 
confusion was not lessened when the men crowded 
round to shake hands with Ella. A little of it was 
due to an animated discussion between Sydney 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


274 

Raynham and a group of young men who had not 
seen Ella before. Ella could hear snatches of 
the discussion and portions of the advice given by 
Raynham. She wondered wdiat the young men 
made out of his concluding counsel : 

“ If I were you I wouldn’t burn my boats behind 
me unless I was sure there was a bridge somewhere 
convenient. Ceesar, to my mind, was a damned 
fool.” 

Ella enjoyed the ride back to Midlington. She 
knew that there would be no strike. Even the 
knowledge that Miss Aveling Avould have caused 
trouble during her absence did not take the edge 
off her pleasure. 


CHAPTER XIX 


N ext morning Ella was so gay, so full of the 
joie de vivre, that her mother, who had 
eaten a good deal of lobster salad the 
night before, felt sure that something dreadful 
would happen before the day was ended. 

Although Ella laughed at her mother’s fears, 
and even gave the folk-lorists’ explanation of their 
origin, she began to think that folk-lorists might 
be mistaken when Mrs Henmore, the vicar’s wife, 
called soon after breakfast to inform Ella that she 
was debarred by her agreement from taking lodgers 
or paying guests. The vicar’s wife was very polite 
while pointing out Ella’s breach of the agreement, 
and even went so far as to say that if the paying- 
guests had been ordinary human beings nothing 
would have been said about it. Unfortunately 
the solicitor who had charge of the matter had a 
decided objection to the use of the vicarage as a 
miniature lunatic asylum. 

While Ella was closeted in the drawing-room 
with her landlady, Alec Goosey came through the 
hedge with a message from his mother. Alec had 
vowed, in a general way, that he would never enter 
the vicarage grounds again even if he lived far 
longer than Methusaleh did. He had also refused 
point-blank to leave his own territory when the 

27s 


176 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

particular case occurred and his mother asked him 
just to run across with a paper pattern that Ella 
required for some home dressmaking. Although 
he swore that Ella would go about for years with- 
out a stitch to her back before he would cross the 
hedge to help her out of a difficulty he was in the 
vicarage grounds within half an hour. Mrs Goosey 
had a way with her. 

Poor Alec found himself not only in the vicarage 
grounds but also in the clutches of Miss Aveling. 
That wily person waited in the heart of a laurel 
bush while Alec, no doubt making use of skill and 
experience acquired in the army, carefully exam- 
ined the approaches to his line of retreat. Not 
until he was quite satisfied that all was clear did he 
venture to advance ; and not until he had advanced 
some distance did Miss Aveling disclose herself. 

Miss Aveling began to talk when she was still 
ten yards behind Alec. The man turned sharply 
when the storm of words broke round his ears. 
His first inclination was to run. He might have 
dashed past her and gained the hole in the hedge ; 
or he might have bolted in the opposite direction 
and won freedom through the vicarage gate. As a 
matter of fact he did neither. He retreated back- 
wards, attempting, of course vainly, to beat off the 
torrential talk with his hands. 

Miss Aveling followed the retreating Alec. Her 
face was flushed, her eyes were staring, and the 
veins in her neck stood out like the usual whip- 
cord. Alec had little or no idea of whither he was 
proceeding. He was not familiar with the vicarage 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


277 

grounds, and he had not eyes in the back of his head. 
Miss Aveling, on the other hand, could see ex- 
ceptionally well, she knew every inch of the ground, 
and she advanced in the usual manner. 

Not until Alec bumped against the wall sur- 
rounding the kitchen-garden did he understand Miss 
Aveling’s plan of campaign. It flashed through his 
mind instantly and brought in its train a hopeless 
terror that drove the blood from his cheeks and 
nearly all the powder from his knees. She had 
herded him through the grounds until his retreat 
was stopped by a brick wall ten feet high. He 
was literally up against it. 

To any other than Miss Aveling the poor man 
would have presented a pitiable figure. His knees, 
weakened by terror, refused to support completely 
his body and reduced his stature several cubits ; 
his eyes, almost as wild as Miss Aveling’s own, 
gazed imploringly through and across the verbal 
torrent ; his hands, stretched out on each side of 
his shrunk body, scrabbled about the bricks, like 
those of a drunken man, seeking any possible means 
of escape. 

A gleam of hope suddenly shot through the 
deepening darkness of despair. Alec’s left hand 
encountered the edge of a brick ; and beyond the 
e(^ge — emptiness. Never was the edge of a brick 
more welcome. Possibly it signified a door. And 
a door meant not only egress from the grounds that 
contained Miss Aveling but, with luck, a barrier 
that might be closed in her face. 

As he edged slowly to the left he hoped that Miss 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


278 

Aveling would not notice the response in liis eyes 
to the gleam of hope. She was still at least two 
yards distant. But she was gradually drawing 
nearer. And the fire of words was undoubtedly 
increasing in intensity. The handle at last ! It 
turned. Thank God. But would the door open ? 
Or would die woman spring upon him ? She w'as 
obviously preparing herself for some effort. Would 
he be in time ? The door flew open. Alec flew 
through — ^spinning round as he flew. The door 
flew shut again. 

There was no key. There was not even a bolt. 
But his knees were stronger, now that immediate 
danger w'as over. He determined to hold his body 
against the door as long as one ounce of strengtn 
remained. No, by Heaven 1 It would not be neces- 
sary. Providentially there was, within reach of his 
hand if he stretched well out, an old and discarded 
garden roller. It was extremely old-fashioned ; it 
was made of stone ; indeed it was a rolling-stone 
that, in defiance of the proverb, had gathered quite 
a lot of moss ; its ancient iron handle was rusted 
and dirty. But it would serve. He seized it 
feverishly, pulled it with giant’s strength towards 
the door, placed the handle beneath the useless 
lock, and finally placed a brick on the further side 
of the cylinder of stone. 

He was safe. He breathed freely. Miss Aveling 
might shake the door till she shook her hair down. 
He didn’t care. He was ready, once more, to face 
the world. Indeed he turned his back to the door 
and faced Mabel Fielding. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


279 

Heroes o£ romance appear to go from danger to 
danger, from terrible risk to more terrible risk, as 
easily and as lightly as other men go from cigarette 
to cigarette. The devil-may-care way in which they 
do this surprises one at first, but after a while one 
gets used to it and quite expects it. Obviously 
Alec Goosey was no hero of romance. He had quite 
patently been scared by Miss Aveling whereas no 
hero worthy of the name is ever scared by anybody. 
He had certainly escaped from her but it was more 
by good luck than by presence of mind or coolness 
in fighting. And now that he was face to face with 
another woman he appeared to be, if anything, 
more terrified than ever. His pallor was undoubt- 
edly greater and his eyes disclosed a deeper terror. 

And yet the poor girl did not look like a more 
formidable enemy than the one from whom he had 
just escaped. When she raised her hands anybody 
not scared to death would have seen that they 
trembled. And her eyes proved, if anyone had 
looked into them coolly, that she was at least as 
frightened as Alec. 

For a full minute nothing whatever happened. 
It was Mabel, after all, who made the first move- 
ment. She approached the apparently paralysed 
Alec ; she touched his coat, gingerly, as if she were 
afraid that it was red hot ; then she pressed both 
hands on his pale face. He certainly did not flinch ; 
but he did nothing else. 

‘‘ Oh, Alec, Alec 1 ” the girl cried, stepping back a 
little. ‘‘It is you. Have you come for me ? I 
have waited so very long.” 


28 o 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


Poor Alec, in spite of his Grammar School educa- 
tion, had no words. But he had, for such an occa- 
sion as this, better than words. He took the girl 
in his arms as — there is no simile — a man takes the 
woman he loves. 

Mabel wound her thin arms round his neck, 
locking her fingers in a clasp that was a direct 
challenge to fate. Alec, holding her as tightly as 
she held him, kissed her on cheek and lips and brow 
until both her face and his own regained a healthy 
and natural colour. 

‘‘ You won’t leave me again ? ” Mabel said 
after a while, searching his soul through his 
eyes. 

I never did leave you,” he replied. ‘‘ You 
remember the morning I was demobbed. I had 
missed the morning train and there would not be 
another until three or something in the afternoon. 
I couldn’t wait. I started off on the motor-bike. 
I was so proud of you. And I was going to give 
my mother such a wonderful surprise. I went like 
the wind. But the roads were greasy and going 
round a curve at full speed I skidded. I was thrown 
against a telegraph pole and hurt my head. I was 
found by a farmer and taken in his cart to a cottage- 
hospital in the nearest town. It was a fortnight 
before they would let me out of hospital. I 
remembered that you had not much money and I 
was in a terrible state. Before I told my people 
anything I went back to find you. You had gone. 
They said you had gone away with a gentleman in 
^ motor-car,” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


281 


The manager of my old company. I was glad 
enough to get back to my work. I thought ” 

When Ella came out, an hour or so later, to look 
for Mabel, she wondered why the door into the 
kitchen-garden was fastened. Johnston, the gar- 
dener, was, she knew, laid up with the lumbago,” 
but she felt sure that Mabel was inside the walls. 
Why had she fastened herself in ? Fortunately the 
barricade was not very secure ; Ella was able, after 
one or two hard pushes, to insinuate her body 
between the door and the door-post. 

Ella stopped short when she turned the corner 
at the currant-bushes. Mabel and Alec Goosey 
were sitting, with their backs towards her, between 
the legs of an overturned wheelbarrow. There is 
not much space between the legs of a wheelbarrow 
and consequently the two -young people were very 
close together. They were talking almost as much 
as Miss Aveling herself. When Alec was speaking, 
Mabel sometimes kissed him under the ear, pre- 
sumably so as not to interfere with his oratory, 
and sometimes she pressed her lips to the sleeve of 
his coat. When it was MabePs turn to speak, Alec 
patted her hands, played with her hair, or even 
squeezed her waist as his mother had declared all 
girls like to be squeezed. 

For a moment or two Ella stood at gaze. Her 
brow contracted into a frown. Suddenly, in the 
midst of one of Alec’s long periods, the frown dis- 
appeared and she rushed forward. 

“ Mabel, Mabel,” she cried, heedless of inter- 
rupting the man. ‘‘ Is this ” 

T 


282 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


It is,” Mabel replied before Ella had time to 
complete her question. 

I am simply dying with gladness.” 

Ella proved that this foolish speech was purely 
rhetorical by seizing MabePs hands in a grasp that 
no simply dying woman could possibly have 
possessed. Even so, she had some difficulty in 
raising Mabel to the standing position. In fact 
Alec was obliged to wriggle round on his side before 
the girl could be released. 

You dear 1 ” Ella exclaimed, kissing Mabel 
as though she had done something wonderful. 

Mabel kissed Ella in return, quite as though Ella 
had accomplished something worthy of congratu- 
lation. And throughout the whole performance 
Alec Goosey stood grinning as fatuously as if he 
had done nothing at all. Not one of them thought 
of rushing out and kissing Miss Aveling who had 
probably done more than any of them. 

In a short time Alec was told to run away and 
play on the furthest path — the one beside the 
French beans — while Ella and Mabel talked about 
things of real importance. As soon as he had gone 
Mabel went over once again the sequel to her hus- 
band's disappearance. Then she told Ella what a 
splendid chap he was, how brave, how generous, 
how considerate, how altogether lovable. Ella 
listened quite attentively. Indeed she seemed to 
enjoy listening to Mabel’s rhapsodies. 

“ And you, you darling,” exclaimed Ella, having 
no doubt caught the infection. ‘‘ You are changed 
completely. Even your voice is altered. If I 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 283 

didn’t know it was you I shouldn’t know a bit of 
you.” 

It’s Alec,” Mabel whispered without in the 
least comprehending that she ought to be making 
confusion worse confounded. 

Ella appeared satisfied with the futile and pre- 
posterous explanation of a genuine miracle. 

I am going to ask you to do something more 
for me,” said Mabel, her mood suddenly changing. 

You have done such a frightful lot already 
that I ” 

“ Don’t be so perfectly absurd,” Ella interrupted. 
“ I have done nothing at all.” 

You call it nothing,” said Mabel reproachfully. 

No other person in the whole world would ever 
have done so much.” 

That’s ridiculous,” Ella replied. But we’re 
wasting time and I’m sure Alec will not be satisfied 
much longer with an occasional wave of the hand. 
He’s too far off to notice that your eyes are on him 
all the time.” 

I am going to ask you to break the news — I 
mean to tell Mrs Goosey about me.” 

‘‘ One would think you w^ere an accident or a 
death or something horrible instead of the sweetest 
little thing in the world.” 

“ I want her to like me,” said Mabel looking 
attentively at the path. 

“ She can’t help it,” said Ella with conviction 

I’m a little bit afraid of her.” 

‘‘ Afraid of Mrs Goosey ! Did you ever see her i ” 

“ Never.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


284 

Wait until you do.” 

Tm horribly afraid,” Mabel insisted. You 
see I was educated at a board school and was only 
a companion-help until I ” 

Mrs Goosey attaches no importance whatever 

to education. In fact she ” 

‘‘ But you will see her first and tell her not to 
expect too much. Alec is an only son, and mothers 
expect such a lot, don’t they ? I know well enough 
I’m not good enough, but nobody could love him 
more. And I’m sure I’ll try my best to please his 
mother as well. I only hope she isn’t too stuck up. 
Alec has been trying to hint something about her 
already and I feel sure he’s afraid she’ll not be quite 

q)leased about me. Do see her and tell her ” 

‘‘ I promise to see her,” said Ella, cutting short 
Mabel’s entreaties. “ And I will say just as much 
or as little as I think necessary.” 

Mabel pressed Ella’s hand in token of gratitude. 
“ I’ll go at once,” Ella announced. Mrs 
Goosey ought not to be kept out of this any longer.” 

Ella started off towards the garden door. She 
walked quickly and did not notice that Alec was 
running down the other path in her direction. 
Only when he cleared the cucumber-frame at a 
bound, and almost fell into her arms, did she know 
that he too wished to speak to her. 

Where are you going ? ” he asked, somewhat 
out of breath. 

To see your mother,” Ella replied quite politely. 
“ Mabel appears to think that she is a horrible 
accident and that the news of her must be broken.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 2S5 

Alec tried to smile but failed ignoniiniously. 

I wonder ” he began but his wonder 

apparently overcame him. 

‘ What do you wonder ? ” Ella asked when the 
pause had lasted a good many seconds. 

‘‘ I wonder — well, you see — I mean— ‘you surely 
understand ” 

I must be rather stupid to-day,’’ said Ella. 
‘‘ I don’t understand a bit.” 

‘‘ You know mother, don’t you ? ” 

I should think I do.” 

She’s the best mother in the world.” 

If that’s what you stopped me for I may as 
well go on.” 

“ She doesn’t speak the best of English and all 
that sort of thing, as you know,” he floundered. 
‘‘ And some people might think her a bit rough in her 
manners. But she has a heart of gold.” 

Ella agreed about her heart and completely 
ignored his reference to her English. 

Mabel’s the sweetest and dearest ” 

I know. But I really must get along or my 
poor people will have no lunch to-day.” 

‘‘ Mabel is such a lady,” Alec stammered, detain- 
ing Ella by planting himself between her and the 
door. That’s why I never told her anything 
about my people. I suppose I was a bit ashamed. 
No, it wasn’t quite that. But — well, I was wonder- 
ing if you would be so jolly decent as to — I mean 
you might just prepare both Mabel and mother a 
little — I’m sure you ” 

Ella pitied him and put an end to his suffering. 


286 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


‘‘ I have already spoken to Mabel,” she asserted 
boldly. And I will do the same to your mother. 
You and Mabel had better stroll down slowly to 
the hedge and be ready to come up to the house 
when I signal to you with my pocket handkerchief.” 

Ella knew quite well, even without a glance at 
her wristlet watch, that she ought to be in the 
kitchen preparing luncheon. She could see Miss 
Minchin pacing up and down the hall and could 
hear Miss Aveling grumbling about the lateness 
of the meal. But she didn’t care. She wouldn’t 
miss Mrs Goosey if her guests had to have corned 
beef and salad. Indeed she would still see the 
thing through if they had to go without food 
altogether. 

Lor a mussey ! ” Mrs Goosey exclaimed when 
Ella entered. I am glad to sec you and at this 
time o’ day too. I’ve ’ad a queer feelin’ about the 
pit of my stummick all mornin’ as if somethink 
was goin’ to ’appen.” 

“ Perhaps something is,” said Elia. 

I ’ope not,” said Mrs Goosey fervently. 

‘‘ It might be something good,” Ella suggested. 

“ Not with that kind o’ sick feelin’,” Mrs Goosey 
affirmed. “ I know the diff’rcnce. But ’ow’s 
your ladies this morning ? ” 

I haven’t seen much of them,” Ella replied. 

If I were you I’d see less. Of all the ’orribie 
creatures ” 

‘‘ Oh come now, Mrs Goosey,” Ella interrupted. 
‘‘ Mabel is not a horrible creature.” 

“ I don’t count ’er one of ’em. She’s diff’rent. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 287 

She ’as a lovely face that poor child ’as. But so 
sad. That young thing, as I’ve said to myself 
scores of times when I was watching ’er through 
Alec’s spy-glasses, is just weighted down with 
trouble. My ’eart ’as fair bled for ’er many a time, 
but more before she fell in the sea and came up 
’ere.” 

‘‘ I suppose it was you who helped her by means 

of her grocer and by leaving things ” 

It’s precious little anybody could get the 
chance,” Mrs Goosey interrupted hastily. “ But 
’ave you seen Alec this morning ? I sent ’im across 
with that pattern we were talkin’ about.” 

“ I have seen him.” 

“ You didn’t leave ’im with that Aveling wo- 
man ? ” Mrs Goosey asked anxiously. 

“ No. He’s in much better company.” 

That wouldn’t be far to seek.” 

‘‘ You have said several times that you would 
like to see your son married.” 

“ I ’ave indeed. And it’s true as gospel. Young 
fellers should all get married as soon as ever they 
can afford it. ’As he proposed to you already ? 
My word, he ’as lost no time after all, and I thought 
he was a bit slow — I mean ” 

‘‘ He couldn’t very well propose to me,” said Ella 
with a smile, seeing that he is already married.” 

Wot ? ” cried Mrs Goosey. “ Married ? Our 
Alec married ? Never. D’ye mean while ’e was 
solderin’ like Mr Challenor ? ” 

He was married just before he was demobbed. 
The lady was an actress and ” 


288 ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 

My Lord ! ” Mrs Goosey interrupted, a whole 
world of amazement in her voice. A hactress ! 
Alec married to a hactress ! Wot will she think 
of me ? I never could even recite as a child. Not 
but wot I tried ’ard enough. ’Ad to. But I 
always forgot wot came next, and my ’ands and 
feet got kinder mixed. ’As she got strings o’ 
pearls round ’er neck, and does she wear them 
there ’ats with feathers stickin’ out like a bubbly- 
jock’s tail ? I used to see them at the Victoriar 
’All in Kett’ring and I’ve seen dozens of pictures of 
’em in the Free Library. But I never thought I’d 
speak to one, let alone Alec marry one. I thought 
they were too grand for such as us, and I’m sure 
they speak most beautiful. I suppose every night 
of ’er life she goes about with a back as bare as my 
’and. She’ll think I’m an old frump because I 
keep my back covered up. I’d catch my death 
o’ cold if I didn’t. Besides, I’ve a mole just between 
my shoulder blades.” 

Ella, after a moment’s hesitation, proceeded to 
destroy a good deal of the glamour that, in Mrs 
Goosey’s eyes, surrounded the stage. 

Some of them may be ordinary girls makin’ 
their livin’ in that way,” Mrs Goosey said, when 
Ella had finished. All the same they look so nice 
and they speak so nice that they couldn’t be 
bothered with an old thing like me wot can neither 
talk perlite nor dress myself up in furs and jools.” 

‘‘ I used to think you admired my looks and ” 

‘‘ You ? You’re one in a million, or in ten million 
if there’s as many as that in the world.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 289 

^ My dear Mrs Goosey, there are thousands of 
girls who would be as pleased as I am to have you 
for a friend.” 

That’s your kind ’eart again,” said Mrs Goosey 
with a sigh. My word, Alec missed something 
when he missed you.” 

“ Alec has missed nothing. He has won the love 
of the one woman in the world for him.” 

’As he now ? Does she really love ’im ? ” 

“ She does, with her whole heart.” 

Isn’t that kind of ’er. And ’er a hactress too. 
I bet she’ll make some of the fine ladies in Kett’ring 
sit up. I wish I had paid a bit more attention 
when Alec tried to learn me ’ow to say ’am and 
’ome and words like that. That would ’ave been 
somethink. And I believe I might ’ave learned 
that much. But the poor boy was so anxious 
for me to get on quick. He began to talk about 
nouns and verbs and singulars and somethink that 
meant more than one until my poor ’ead was fit 
to bust. It was indeed. Many a night I lay awake 
for hours tryin’ to learn things just to please the 
poor boy. And when I did go to sleep I used to 
dream that them there verbs and singulars and 
things chased me up the ’Badlands and down 
Queensberry Road till my legs were tied up in knots 
in the bed clothes. Singular was the worst. It 
’ad a ’ead like an elephant and legs as long as a 
factory chimney.” 

These things are not worth worrying about.” 

‘‘ I’ll tell you wot you’ll ’ave to do,” Mrs Goosey 
exclaimed with a new light in her eyes. You’ll 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


tgo 

’ave to tell ^er, before she sees me, that I’m a very 
ignorant woman and it’s too late now to change me. 
But you can promise ’er at the same time that 
ni keep out of ’er way as much as ever I can and 
when she and Alec ’ave their own ’ouse I’ll never 
go near ’er if she’ll just let Alec come and see me 
now and again.” 

Ella kissed her and immediately went out and 
gave the signal. She was simply bubbling with 
suppressed laughter at these three foolish people, 
each of whom had asked her to explain things that 
needed no explanation. 

When Mabel entered the room, with Ella’s arm 
round her waist, the two protagonists looked at 
one another with rather fearful eyes. The younger 
woman spoke first. 

‘‘ Mother ! ” 

Tears rushed to Mrs Goosey’s eyes at the word. 
A sob rose to her throat. 

“ My dear ! My dear ! ” 

Soon afterwards the mere male was again ban- 
ished and a solemn conclave debated important 
issues. Mrs Goosey wondered if it would be a 
mortal sin, to be taken cognizance of by the Lam- 
beth Conference, if Alec and Mabel were married 

all over again.” Seeing that Mabel shrank from 
a second ceremony, Mrs Goosey decided, although 
it would seem funny, to have her daughter-in-law 
at once in the house. 

“ I always did want a girl,” she said solemnly 
and impressively. ‘‘ Boys are very well and a 
mother’s ’eart goes out to a boy. But a girl’s a 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 291 

girl for all that. After a while I was afraid I’d 
done somethink wrong and God wouldn’t trust me 
with a girl. And to think all the time He was just 
goin’ on like wot I used to do myself. When I 
bought Alec an injin, and there never was such a 
boy for injins, I used to tease ’im for a bit so’s to 
make ’im all the ’appier when he got it. It’s just 
the same with my girl. She’s been kep’ back a 
while, but now ” 

Mabel, by effective use of both arms and lips, 
stopped the foolish utterances. 


CHAPTER XX 


W HILE Ella Danesford in Midlington was 
playing a part in Alec Goosey’s domestic 
drama, Jack Challenor in Darchester 
was receiving a deputation from his men. Jack 
listened eagerly and intelligently when the deputa- 
tion talked about Ella, but he appeared rather 
absent-minded when they introduced co-partner- 
ship. And they were certainly amazed when, on 
offering to pledge themselves to good conduct in the 
future, he advised them never to make an un- 
conditional promise. 

It’s a regular mug’s game,” he assured them. 
You must always leave yourselves a loop-hole 
to crawl through if you find the promise too hard 
to keep.” 

Jack was not mad. Neither was he under the 
delusion that he was speaking at a meeting of the 
Employers’ Federation. He was thinking of Mrs 
Goosey. He was striving, with all his might, to 
recall the exact terms of his foolish promise to her. 
Sometimes he feared that his promise had been 
unconditional ; at other times he felt almost sure 
that he had added a saving clause. 

After the men had gone and when comparative 
quietness had settled down in the office he remem- 
292 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


293 

bered his ipsissima verba. I promise to keep 
away from her, unless, of course, I must see her on 
business.” He wanted to pat himself on the back, 
even to cheer himself, first of all for his cleverness 
in remembering his own words, and then for his 
astuteness in inserting a proviso in his promise. 
No one could possibly deny that this was a matter 
of business. 

He ordered his car at once. Then he rolled up 
into a ball and threw into the waste paper basket 
a dozen or twenty sheets of paper each one contain- 
ing the date and “ My dear Ella.” When the 
cashier or somebody informed him that he had 
not yet had any lunch. Jack merely stared at him. 
He didn’t, fortunately, utter the nasty words that 
trembled on his tongue. 

By sheer good luck Jack arrived at Midlington 
Vicarage without accident. Several people on the 
way prayed audibly that he would be smashed up 
soon ; and two or three shook their fists at the back 
of his car ; but nothing really serious happened. 
Even when he arrived his luck still held : he found 
Ella almost immediately. 

I thought you were never coming back,” Ella 
remarked when she sat down again on the rustic 
seat in the shrubbery. 

“ I have come on business,” he replied, adding 
truculently : And Mrs Goosey can go to blazes 

if she likes.” 

I’m sure she won’t like,” Ella remarked. 

I was bound to come and thank you for dishing 
Jimmy Bell.” 


294 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


“ Did I dish him ? ” 

‘‘ You put him in the cart nicely.” 

He was explaining for the seventh time how 
she had put Jimmy Bell into the cart or into the 
soup, sometimes it was the one and sometimes the 
other, when Miss Minchin appeared round the 
laurel bushes. The good lady looked rather un- 
kempt ; her hair was decidedly untidy ; her blouse 
was fastened only at rare intervals ; and she wore 
a walking-shoe on one foot and a bedroom slipper 
on the other. She carried in her hand several sheets 
of paper. 

“ My aunt 1 ” exclaimed Jack, jumping to his 
feet. 

‘‘ Hush ! ” whispered Ella. “ She might hear 
you.” 

Miss Minchin appeared confused when she ob- 
served Jack and began nervously to fasten the 
remaining buttons of her blouse. Ella hastened, 
in order to cover her confusion, to effect a formal 
introduction. 

“ I am so glad to see you,” said Miss Minchin, 
still very nervous about her blouse. ‘‘ An intro- 
duction was hardly necessary.” 

Thank you,” said Jack, pretending not to see 
her buttons. 

“ You are quite well, I hope ? ” 

‘‘ Quite well, thank you.” 

“ Have you known Miss Danesford before ? ” 
she asked. 

“ I have known her for years,” he re- 

plie4. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


295 

How lovelv. Then I suppose vou come down 
often ? ” ' 

Um. Fairly.” 

Well, you must come oftener,” said Miss 
Minchin, recovering her usual manner. By the 
way I discovered some most interesting and re- 
markable facts this morning.” 

What were they ? ” Jack asked politely. 

Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe when he was 
sixty,” Miss Minchin replied with as much of an 
air as if she had written it herself. Not only so 
but William de Morgan began to write novels at 
sixty-five and Disraeli actually wrote Endymion 
when he w’as seventy-five.” 

Very remarkable,” Tack replied with, a sidelong 
look at Ella. 

“ I must go back to my work,” Miss Minchin 
observed quite youthfully. I shall no doubt see 
you again. I simply rushed out to read some- 
thing to Miss Danesford. I am exceedingly 
busy.” 

Jack drew his hand across his brow. 

“ It’s awful,” he said. 

“ What’s awful ? ” Ella asked innocently. 

‘‘ She is.” 

I’m afraid you don’t understand,” said Ella. 

‘‘ I’m afraid I don’t. Does anybody ? Do 
you ?” 

‘‘Yes, of course. Authors are all queer, more 
or less. They are especially queer about their 
clothes.” 

“ But she’s not an author,” Jack exclaimed. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


296 

She is. Or perhaps it would be more accurate 
to say she will be. She is writing a book.” 

She is madder than ever.” 

She isn’t mad at all,” said Ella. It’s the 
best thing ever she did. It keeps her quiet and 
gives her employment. She’s a different woman 
since she began to write.” 

“ But she’ll soon go back to her old condition,’ 
Jack asserted. 

I don’t think she will,” replied Ella. 

‘‘ You’re easily imposed on,” said Jack. She’s 
as mad as a hatter. Of course she’s not as bad as 
that other creature, Miss Aveling. She’s worse 
than a hatter or a March hare or anything.” 

“ I tell you Miss Minchin is as sane as you are,” 
said Ella. 

“ Perhaps she is.” 

‘‘ You don’t believe me ? ” 

‘‘ I don’t.” 

“ Would you believe Sir Henry Pinker ? ” 

‘‘ Who’s he ? ” 

‘‘ One of the greatest specialists in England.” 

‘‘ What’s the good of dragging him in ? ” Jack 
asked. 

He has been here,” Ella replied triumphantly. 
‘‘ He has examined Miss Minchin and he says she’s 
quite sane.” 

‘‘ He — ^what ? ” cried Jack. 

Ella repeated what she had just said. 

“ Do you mean to say she’s not a lunatic ? ” he 
cried, obviously unwilling to believe it. 

I do.” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 297 

She’s as sane as you are yourself ? ” 

‘‘ Quite.” 

Jack executed to his own music, a dance com- 
pared with which the Jazzina or even the Fox 
Trot was a tame performance indeed. Ella stared 
at his eurythmic effort through very round eyes. 

Now you know,” he cried when he had ended 
up with a wild and ungraceful flourish of one leg. 

Know what ? ” 'Ella demanded with con- 
siderable indignation. 

What I was afraid of,” he replied. 

‘‘I knew all the time that you were afraid of 
lunatics,” Ella said severely. “ I thought it was 
extremely silly of you.” 

“ And that’s why I never proposed to you,” he 
added joyously. 

Because you were afraid of lunatics ? ” Ella 
asked, her eyes, if possible, opening wider than 
ever. 

‘‘ Yes.” 

‘‘ Thank you very much,” said Ella. 

“ What for ? ” he demanded. 

‘‘ For calling me a lunatic,” Ella replied. 

T never did,” he exclaimed. 

‘‘ You did.” 

I didn’t. I said I was afraid of being a lunatic 
myself.” 

‘‘ If you proposed to me ? ” 

‘‘ Certainly.” 

That’s just as bad. Perhaps it’s worse.” 

Hang it all ! ” he exclaimed, running his 
fingers through his hair. ‘‘ I don’t believe you 

V 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


298 

understand, even yet, why I didn't marry you 
before you took on this beastly job here.” 

‘‘ Perhaps I don’t. But Mrs Goosey does.” 

‘‘ Naturally,” he said. ‘‘ I told her about it. 
She’s a good old thing, very kind and motherly 
and all that.” 

“ You told her you were already married,” 
Ella exclaimed. 

Married ! ” he cried, again paying attention 
to his hair. ‘‘ Did she say I was married ? ” 

She did.” 

‘‘ Of all the stupid, interfering, damnable ” 

She’s very kind and motherly,” Ella interrupted. 

‘‘ She’s as big a lunatic as the rest of — I mean 
she’s as bad as Miss Aveling.” 

‘‘ She’s one of the most sensible people I have 
ever met. Indeed she’s much more sensible than 
you.” 

‘‘ That’s right,” he exclaimed bitterly. Just 
when I was feeling as happy as a sand-boy, what- 
ever that is, because an awful burden had been 
lifted from my mind, you turn round and call me 
all the beastly names you can think of. It’s just 
like a woman. She can’t bear to see a poor man 
happy. But I don’t care. Nothing can alter the 
fact that I am not likely to become insane.” 

‘‘ Is that what you have been afraid of ? ” Ella 
gasped. 

‘‘ Of course it is. Haven’t I been telling you 
for the last half hour or so ? ” 

“ But why should you be afraid of losing your 
reason ? ” Ella asked in bewilderment, 


ELLA KEEPS ROUSE 299 

My Lord ! I have told \’ou over and over 
again.” 

‘‘ Have you ? I don’t remember. Would you 
mind telling me once more.” 

Jack sighed. 

“ It’s awful waste of time,” he said, ‘‘ because 
\ ou’ll forget it again as soon as I have told you.” 

I’ll try to remember this time,” Ella promised. 
‘'It would help my wretched memory if you began 
at the beginning.” 

“ Well, look here. When I first went over to 
France I had a pal named Bristow^e. After we 
had been there for a few months he began to do 
all sorts of queer things both in the air and on the 
ground. He even told a general whom he met one 
evening to go home to England and get into petti- 
coats again. Eventually he was court-martialled. 
It was proved then that he was off his head.” 

“ Poor fellow 1 ” Ella ejaculated. 

“ Yes, poor devil, as you say. There could be 
no doubt whatever about his mental condition 
because he had an aunt — his mother’s sister — 
who was in an asylum.” 

“ I suppose a tendency to mental weakness is 
hereditary,” said Ella. 

“ Well, don’t you see, I was in the same box.” 
“ You 1 ” 

“ Yes, me. We all believed my aunt to be as 
mad as she could be. We had jolly good reason 
too. At least we thought so. And she is my 
mother’s sister too. That was the thing that 
worried me to death, I declare to goodness, after 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


300 

poor Bristowe was sent home, I often felt inclined 
to do the very same things as he had done.” 

Ella crept a little closer to him. 

‘‘ It was perfectly awful, I can tell you. Even 
after I met you I daren’t think of getting married 
because I might grow like my aunt. If I did, 
God help anybody who had to live with me. Then 
I thought that, being a man, I might even be worse. 
How I cursed her the night you decided to leave 
Darchester. I can tell you it’s something like a 
relief to know that she’s all right.” 

‘‘ Is she all right ? ” Ella asked. 

You have just told me she is. For Heaven’s 
sake don’t say you have been pulling my leg.” 

“ But I don’t — I don’t even know your aunt,” 
stammered Ella. 

Jack stared at her with his mouth half opened. 

“ Don’t know her,” he exclaimed. “ Don’t 
know her, when you have had her in your house 
for ” 

“ Gracious ! ” Ella interupted. ‘‘ You mean 
Miss Minchin.” 

‘‘ Of course. I told you, when she put her head 
round the bushes, that she was my aunt.” 

I thought that was a mere exclamation. 
People often say ‘ my aunt 1 ’ when they really 
mean ‘ good gracious ’ or something.” 

‘‘ I meant both — and a lot more.” 

‘‘ I am ever so glad,” said Ella soberly. 

There was silence for a minute or so between 
them. Jack was nervously considering what he 
ought to do next. Ella was thinking back. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


jot 

‘‘ You have been rather foolish,” she said at last. 

Perhaps you would have been foolish if you 
had been in my shoes,” he replied. But per- 
haps you mean in some definite ” 

I do.” 

Let’s have it out,” he said with resignation. 

“ You remember my telling you about the poor 
creature who preached to the waves and ” 

‘‘ That was Aunt Matilda, wasn’t it ? ” 

‘‘ It was not. It was Mabel Fielding. And 
Mabel told me, when she came here, that she had 
been married to a man in the air force who had 
deserted her. Some people might have thought, 
from the way you talked and ” 

“ Did you think I had done that ? ” he inter- 
rupted fiercely. 

“ I did not,” Ella replied calmly. I knew you 
couldn’t.” 

And did you believe Mrs Goosey— silly old ass 
— when she said I was married ? ” 

‘‘ No.” 

“ It seems to me, Ella, that you have considerable 
faith in me,” he remarked with some pride. 

I know you pretty well,” said Ella. 

‘‘ I ought to kiss you for that. I think I will.” 

“ No, no,” cried Ella. '' You must not.” 

/‘Why not?” 

“ Because you have no right ” 

“ Right ? ” he interrupted. “ No right ?^ Great 
Scot I hasn’t a man the right to kiss the girl he’s 
going to marry when she tells him that she didn’t 
believe he was a blackguard ? ” 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


302 

“ But you haven’t even proposed. How do you 
know you are going to marry ” 

“ Proposed,” he interrupted, his eyes filled with 
amazement. “ What do you think I’ve been 
doing this last twenty minutes ” 

thought you were explaining things,” Ella 
replied. You appeared to me to be talking 
mostly about your Aunt Matilda.” 

‘‘ I had to talk about her. All the same ” 

Anyhow,” Ella interrupted, “ it’s a good thing 
you haven’t proposed.” 

“ Good thing ? What do you mean ? ” 

‘‘ I couldn’t possibly accept you.” 

‘‘ That’s right,” he exclaimed bitterly. ‘‘ Tell 
me you have fallen in love with somebody else 
while I have been bearing my burden alone. It 
would be just my luck.” 

I have not fallen in love with anybody else.” 

‘‘ What the dickens are you talking about then ? ” 
I daren’t marry you, Jack.” 

“ Coward. What are you afraid of ? ” 

“ There is a barrier between us.” 

A barrier ? If you say you have an aunt who’s 
in an ” 

‘‘ It isn’t anything like that.” 

“ What is it .? I’m getting tired of this.” 

It’s my housekeeping,” Ella confessed mourn- 
fully. “ I have spent nearly the whole of my 
money now as well as all I have received from Miss 
Minchin and Miss Aveling. It’s perfectly awful. 
I go out with six or seven pounds, sometimes more, 
and I come back with a few coppers and about as 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


303 

many packages as would fill your two hands. 
And I haven’t spent a penny on clothes. Not that 
I needed any clothes ; I have hardly ever been 
outside the gate.” 

“ Well, what about it ? ” Jack asked. 

I couldn’t possibly keep house for you. I’d 
simply ruin you. And yet — and yet ” 

“ Yes— and yet ? ” 

“ Well, I would marry almost anybody to get 
rid of my two lodgers and have a house of my own.” 

“ You’re not going to marry almost anybody,” 
said Jack very firmly, and with a hand on each of 
Ella’s shoulders. “ You’re going to marry me. 
And you’re going to do it at once. I’ve lost about 
a year.” 

“ And I’ve lost about ^800.” 

“ I say 1 ” cried Jack as a new light suddenly 
struck him. 

“ What is it ? ” Ella asked. 

“ If you hadn’t insisted upon this foolhardy 
business I should never have known that Aunt 
Matilda is sane after all. We might have gone 
on for years and years until we were both old and 
didn’t want to get married at all. It was a good 
thing you were so jolly stubborn about it. You’re 
a darling 1 ” And then he took her in his arms. 

Some considerable time had elapsed before Jack 
released Ella. When he did release her his face 
set in an expression of stern resolve. He rose to 
his feet and pulled down his waistcoat with great 
determination. 

“ What does this mean ? ” Ella asked. 


ELLA KEEPS HOUSE 


304 

‘‘ It means business,’’ he replied. 

What kind of business ? ” 

Nasty, horrid, disagreeable business. I am 
going inside the vicarage to give Miss Aveling 
notice to clear out, and to tell Aunt Matilda that 
I’ll have a cottage ready for her in a week. I’ll 
have one, too, if I have to stop the works and take 
all the men into the country and build it of steel.” 

My dearest I ” exclaimed Ella. ‘‘Now I can 
be quite sure that you love ine.” 


THE END 


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